Microgels which are soluble crosslinked polymer networks have been prepared using the nitroxide living free radical polymerization methodology. When heated in the pre sence of tert-butylstyrene and 1,4-divinylbenzene, the alkoxyamine 1 derived from 2,2'-azoisobutyronitrile (AIBN) afforded a high molecular weight soluble polymer which was shown by size exclusion chromatography in conjunction with an on-line multi angle laser light scattering (MALLS) detector to have microgel properties.