Dissolving biomolecules and modifying biomedical implants with supercritical carbon dioxide

We describe two methodologies for dissolving ionic/polar species in scCO(2) . Both lead to a broadening of the range of applications for scCO(2). Fluor inated surfactants may be used to prepare water in carbon dioxide microemul sions to allow solubilization of ionic and biological species. We outline a lso the preparation of scCO(2) soluble metal precursors that can be impregn ated efficiently into polymeric substrates. Further processing by heat or U V light leads to metallic particles distributed throughout a polymer substr ate. The clean synthesis of such composites can be applied to the developme nt of improved medical implants.