Patent ID: 7147979

Claim:
A toner for developing an electrostatic image, said toner containing toner particles comprising: a binder resin, a colorant, a charge control agent, a parting agent, wherein: a volume average particle diameter (Dv) of said toner particles is 3 to 10 Φm; a ratio (Dv/Dp) of said volume average particle diameter (Dv) to a number average particle diameter (Dp) of said toner particles is 1 to 1.3; an average circle degree of said toner particles is 0.93 to 0.995; and a location parameter of island-shaped separate phase is 25 number % or more, wherein the location parameter is the percentage of such sectional photo images of toner particles where a maximum diameter of island-shaped separate phase is 1 Φm or more and an outermost portion of said island-shaped separate phase is present at the depth of 0.01 to 0.15 times the particle diameter of each toner particle under the surface of said toner particle, among sectional photo images of said toner particles having an island-shaped separate phase and a particle diameter in the range of 0.6 to 1.2 times said volume average particle diameter being formed by photographing with an electron microscope; a tetrahydrofuran-extractable component content of said toner is from 10 to 80% by weight; an acid value from 5 mg KOH/g or less; and an amine value from 3.25 mg HCl/g or less.