Patent ID: 7777176

Claim:
A spherical, brightly fluorescing, non-sticking chemical composition of predetermined, definitive and uniform size ranging from 15 nanometers and up to 50 microns, engineered to glow brightly when exposed to ultraviolet light, capable of characterizing microscopic defects in membranes, the chemical composition comprising: a. nanoparticle selected from the group consisting of silica and silesquioxame, the nanoparticle being prepared by the sol-gel polymerization of tetramethoxysilane and tetraethoxysilane for silica nanoparticles; and the two starting materials selected from the group consisting of methytrimethoxysilane and methyltriethoxysilane; 1,4-bis(triethoxysilyl)benzene and 1,4-bis(trimethoxysilyl)benzene; 1,1-bis(triethoxysilyl)methane and 1,1-bis(trimethoxysilyl)methane; 1,2-bis(triethoxysilyl)ethane and 1,2-bis(trimethoxysilyl)ethane; 1,2-bis(triethoxysilyl)ethene, and 1,2-bis(trimethoxysilyl)ethene; 1,6-bis(triethoxysilyl)hexane and 1,6-bis(trimethoxysilyl)hexane; 1,8-bis(triethoxysilyl)octane and 1,8-bis(trimethoxysilyl)octane; and 1,8-bis(triethoxysilyl)3,3,4,4,5,5,6,6-octafluorooctane and 1,8-bis(trimethoxysilyl)3,3,4,4,5,5,6,6-octafluorooctane for silsesquioxane nanoparticles; and b. a fluorescent, bridged silane momomer with the general chemical structure of (R′O) 3 Si—R—Si(OR′) 3 , where R′ is methyl or ethyl, capable of being incorporated into the nanoparticle via a modified Stober process.