Iron oxide colloids were prepared by coprecipitation of Fe(II) and Fe(III) salts in alkaline media and stabilized by perchloric acid, oleic acid, or poly(acrylic acid). In an attempt to obtain magnetic polymer microspheres differing in size, dispersion polymerization of glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) in ethanol containing HClO4-stabilized magnetite, dispersion copolymerization of GMA and 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) in toluene/2-methylpropan-1-ol mixture in the presence of oleic acid-coated magnetite, and inverse suspension copolymerization of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAm) and N, N′-methylenebisacrylamide (MBAAm) in cyclohexane in the presence of poly(acrylic acid)-coated maghemite were compared. The microspheres were characterized by morphology, size, polydispersity, and some magnetic properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]