Soft Materials, 10(4):449–461, (2012) Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN 1539-445X print/1539-4468 online DOI: 10.1080/1539445X.2010.532848 SYNTHESIS OF EMULSION-TEMPLATED ACRYLIC-BASED POROUS POLYMERS: FROM BRITTLE TO ELASTOMERIC Yeliz Tunc, 1 Nesrin Hasirci, 2 and Kezban Ulubayram 1,3 1 Faculty of Pharmacy Department of Basic Pharmaceutical Sciences, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey 2 Graduate Department of Polymer Science and Technology; Graduate Department of Biotechnology; Department of Chemistry; Graduate Department of Biomedical Engineering, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey 3 Graduate Department of Nanotechnology and Nanomedicine, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey  High internal phase emulsion polymers (PolyHIPEs) are novel materials that have high porosity and interconnected open-cell structure and are used in various applications such as supports for cat- alytic systems, media for separation of similar molecules, and scaffolds for tissue engineering. In this study, 90% porous acrylic based polyHIPE structures with various cellular structure and mechan- ical characteristics were developed by using stearyl acrylate (SA), isodecyl acrylate (IDA), isobornyl methacrylate (IBMA), and divinylbenzene (DVB). Elastomeric polyHIPEs were produced from the comonomers of SA and IDA, and had high ability of recovery when the applied stress was removed. IBMA based polyHIPEs were brittle and demonstrated higher Young’s modulus and compression strength than that of conventional styrene based polyHIPEs at the same void volume. Therefore, by varying the composition, it became possible to alter the mechanical properties of polyHIPEs from brittle to elastomeric, without changing the interconnected cellular structures. Keywords Emulsion polymerization, High internal phase emulsion, PolyHIPE INTRODUCTION Our ability to control the micro-architecture of polymers provides a huge potential to improve their properties and brings new application areas. In recent years, high internal phase emulsion (HIPE) systems have attracted great attention for the production of solid macroporous foams Received 27 June 2010; Accepted 14 October 2010. Address correspondence to Kezban Ulubayram, Hacettepe University, Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Basic Pharmaceutical Sciences, 06100 Ankara, Turkey. E-mail: ukezban@hacettepe.edu.tr 449