A toner including a toner particle comprising a binder resin and a crystalline polyester, wherein the binder resin contains a polyester having a structure represented by the following formula (1): ##STR00001##
in formula (1), Rs each independently represent hydrogen, a methyl group, or a phenyl group;
A represents a polyester segment;
B represents a polyester segment or any functional group selected from the group consisting of —R.sup.1OH, —R.sup.1COOH, ##STR00002##
and —R.sup.1NH.sub.2 wherein R.sup.1 represents a single bond or a C.sub.1-4 alkylene group; and
the average repeat number n is 10 to 80.

Provided is a toner comprising: a toner particle containing a binder resin; and an organic silicon polymer particle on a surface of the toner particle, wherein the binder resin contains a crystalline resin, and when the toner particle is pelletized and a Young's modulus of the toner measured in a micro compression test at 25° C. is represented by TE (MPa) and when one organic silicon polymer particle is separated from the toner and a Young's modulus of the one organic silicon polymer particle measured in a micro compression test at 25° C. is represented by SiE (MPa), TE and SiE satisfies 800≤TE≤2500 and 1.5≤SiE/TE≤10.0.

A toner comprising a toner particle, wherein the toner particle includes a toner base particle containing a binder resin and includes a protruded portion on a surface of the toner base particle; the protruded portion comprises an organosilicon polymer and a polyhydric acid metal salt; and the polyhydric acid metal salt is present on a surface of the protruded portion.

A toner set and an image forming method, both of which can print a full-color image that is superior in gradation and color reproducibility of an image including a higher-order color and superior in continuous printing durability. When one color toner selected from the group consisting of the color toners included in the toner set is defined as a first toner and other color toners are defined as second toners, an internal friction angle θ1 (°) of the first toner and an internal friction angle θ2 (°) of each of the second toners satisfy relationships represented by the following formulae (1) and (2), and a first image developed with the first toner and second images developed with the second toners are transferred in this order on a recording medium or a transfer medium to form an image including a higher-order color:

θ1<θ2  Formula (1):

1°≤θ2−θ1≤3°.  Formula (2):

A toner comprising a toner particle, wherein the toner particle includes a toner base particle containing a binder resin and includes a protruded portion on a surface of the toner base particle; the protruded portion comprises an organosilicon polymer and a polyhydric acid metal salt; and the polyhydric acid metal salt is present on a surface of the protruded portion.

A toner comprising a toner particle that contains a binder resin and a wax, wherein the toner particle contains an organosilicon polymer as given by formula (1) below;
R.sup.1—SiO.sub.3/2  (1),
in formula (1), R.sup.1 is an alkyl group having from 1 to 4 carbons; in a cross section of the toner particle observed using a transmission electron microscope, in terms of a distance A from the centroid of the cross section of the toner particle to a contour of the cross section, the organosilicon polymer is present in a region that is not more than 80% of the distance A from the centroid; and an absolute value of a difference between an SP value of the organosilicon polymer and an SP value of the wax is not more than 0.70 (cal/cm.sup.3).sup.1/2.

A toner having a toner particle including a toner base particle and an organosilicon polymer coating the toner base particle, wherein when S1 (μm.sup.2) is a total area of a non-coated part not coated with the organosilicon polymer on an outermost surface of the toner particle, S2 (μm.sup.2) is a total area of a coated part coated with the organosilicon polymer on the outermost surface of the toner particle, and SA1 (μm.sup.2) is a total of areas of non-coated part domains D1 with an area of not more than 0.10 μm.sup.2 in size in the non-coated part not coated with the organosilicon polymer, formulae (1) and (2) below are satisfied.
0.45≤[S2/(S1+S2)]≤0.65  (1)
(SA1/S1)≥0.50  (2)

Provided are a process cartridge and an electrophotographic apparatus each capable of suppressing an image defect (coarseness in a halftone image) caused by toner scattering in association with a charging failure that occurs when the process speed of the electrophotographic apparatus is further increased. The process cartridge includes: an electrophotographic photosensitive member; and a developing unit, which includes a toner storing portion that stores a toner, and which supplies the toner to a surface of the electrophotographic photosensitive member. The electrophotographic photosensitive member includes a surface protective layer containing an electroconductive particle in an appropriate amount, and the volume resistivity of the surface protective layer is controlled. As the toner, there is used a toner in which an organosilicon polymer is present on the surface of a toner particle, a silanol group is present in part of the organosilicon polymer, and the amount of the silanol group is controlled.

Provided is a toner containing a toner particle comprising a binder resin and an organosilicon polymer, wherein the organosilicon polymer contains an organosilicon polymer particle, the organosilicon polymer particle has a structure represented by the following formula (1):
R.sup.1—SiO.sub.3/2  (1)
in formula (1), R.sup.1 is a C.sub.1-4 alkyl group, and in cross-sectional observation of the toner particle by transmission electron microscopy, the organosilicon polymer particle is present in a region extending up to 80% of the distance A from the centroid out of the total distance A from the centroid of the toner particle cross-section to the contour of the cross-section, and the particle diameter of the organosilicon polymer particle is from 10 nm to 200 nm.

The present invention provides a toner having a toner particle that contains a binder resin and an organic silicon polymer, wherein the organic silicon polymer has a specific structure, the proportion of the specific structure to the number of a silicon atom in the organic silicon polymer contained in the toner particle is at least 5.0%, the toner particle contain a polyester resin of from at least 1.0% by mass to less than 80% by mass, and the polyester resin is a specific polymer.