Patent ID: 7842447

Claim:
A toner comprising: a binder resin and a colorant; wherein said toner contains a THF-soluble component to be dissolved in tetrahydrofuran (THF) and wherein a binder resin component contained in the THF-soluble component contains: a vinyl resin unit (I) formed by reacting carboxyl group(s) of a carboxyl group-containing vinyl resin and epoxy group(s) of an epoxy group-containing vinyl resin and having an epoxy value of 0.001 to 1.000 eq/kg, and a polyester unit (II) formed by condensation polymerization of monomers each containing fatty acid having 4 to 12 carbon atoms, aromatic tricarboxylic acid, and ethylene glycol, wherein the polyester unit (II) has a maximum endothermic peak in a DSC (differential scanning calorimeter) curve in a region ranging from the temperature of 50 to 100° C. on measurement of thermal properties by means of a differential scanning calorimeter; said toner having a main peak in a molecular weight region ranging from 3,000 to 30,000 on measurement of a molecular weight distribution of the THF-soluble component by gel permeation chromatography (GPC) wherein the binder resin contains the vinyl resin unit (I) and the polyester unit (II) such that 0.01 to 10.00 moles of the carboxyl group in the polyester unit (II) is contained with respect to 1.00 mole of the carboxyl group in the vinyl resin unit (I).