Hydrophilic C 18 monolithic polymer sorbents were synthesized for use in solid phase extraction (SPE) and in capillary liquid chromatography (LC).The approach involved incorporating both hydrophobic and hydrophilic monomers into a monolithic material, by copolymerization of stearyl methacrylate (SMA), poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate (PEGMEMA) and ethylene dimethacrylate (EDMA) in the presence of selected porogens, to produce translucent mesoporous monolithic materials in bulk (SPE) or white macroporous monoliths inside fused silica capillary columns (capillary LC).A capillary column containing one of the hydrophilic C18 monoliths (i.e., poly(SMA-co-PEGMEMA-co-EDMA) with 15% w/w PEGMEMA) demonstrated nearly 35% reduction in retention of polycyclic aromatic compounds and greater than 40% increase in retention of phenols compared to a hydrophobic C 18 monolithic column.