Comb-like fluorinated polymers with different backbone structures, poly(heptadecafluorodecyl acrylate) (PA-R-f), poly[oxy[(2-perfluorooctylethylene)thiomethyl]ethylene] (PEO-R-f), and poly[p-[[(perfluorooctylethylene)thio]methyl]styrene] (PS-R-f), were used as surfactants in dispersion polymerization to examine the effect of backbone structure on the formation of polymer particles. Dispersion polymerization of monomers with different polarities using these comb-like fluorinated polymer surfactants in CO2 showed that PEO-R-f containing a polar oxyethylene backbone was an effective surfactant for the dispersion polymerization of a polar monomer, such as N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone, whereas PA-R-f was effective for less polar monomers, such as methyl methacrylate and N-vinyl caprolactam. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.