Molecular imprinting of small particles, and production of small particles from solid state reactants

A method for coating a substrate surface with particles, comprising the steps of:

• expanding a mixture containing a propellant and monomers to form a particle stream;
• depositing particles on a substrate surface by directing said particle stream at said substrate surface, said depositing step being performed in a manner whereby said particles retain a morphology developed from said expanding step;
• and
• polymerizing said particles on said substrate surface, wherein said polymerizing step adheres said particles to said substrate surface.

A method for storing optical information, comprising the steps of:

• forming a composition comprising particles formed from a monomer of solid state reactivity and a polymer matrix;
• selectively exposing a portion of said particles to energy sufficient to polymerize said monomers of solid state reactivity in said portion;
• and
• heating said particles at a temperature sufficient to cause particles not exposed in said selectively exposing step to diffuse into said polymer matrix.

A method for storing optical information, comprising the steps of:

• forming a composition comprising particles formed from monomer of solid state reactivity and a polymer matrix;
• wherein said forming step includes the step of expanding a mixture containing a propellant and said monomers of solid state reactivity into said polymer matrix;
• selectively exposing a portion of said particles to energy sufficient to polymerize said monomers of solid state reactivity in said portion;
• and
• heating said particles at a temperature sufficient to cause particles not exposed in said selectively exposing step to diffuse into said polymer matrix.

A method for preparing a material for selectively joining with an analyte, comprising the steps of:

• expanding a mixture containing a propellant and monomers to form particles;
• introducing a template into said particles which is selectively releasable from a polymer formed from said monomers in said mixture and wherein said template is different from said analyte;
• polymerizing said particles in the presence of said template to form composite particles having polymer and template;
• and
• extracting said template from said composite particles without distorting a morphology of said composite particles to provide polymerized particles imprinted by said template.

A method of molecular imprinting of particles, comprising the steps of:

• expanding a mixture containing a propellant and at least one compound which can conform to a molecular configuration of a template to create particles;
• introducing a template into said particles which is selectively releasable from said compound in said particles;
• solidifying said compound in said particles with said template positioned therein;
• and
• extracting said template from said particles without distorting a morphology of said particles to provide molecularly imprinted particles.