The invention provides compositions and methods relating to self-assembly of structures of various size and shape complexity. The composition include synthetic single-stranded polymers having a backbone and pre-determined linear arrangement of monomers.

For laser sintering, a material includes at least one powder that has been treated by heat to modify at least one of: a melting temperature of the at least one powder; and a recrystallization temperature of the at least one powder and results in the narrowing of the melting curve of the treated material relative to the untreated material. The heating can include a series of heating steps. The treatment improves the efficacies of the SLS process and product quality.

A polymer including a self-immolative polymer segment and a thermally-activated trigger moiety is described. The self-immolative polymer segment includes a head end, a tail end, and a plurality of repeating units. The trigger moiety includes a cycloaddition adduct that is covalently coupled to the head end of the self-immolative polymer segment. When the polymer is exposed to an activation temperature, the cycloaddition adduct undergoes retro-cycloaddition to release the self-immolative polymer segment. The self-immolative polymer segment then decomposes to sequentially release repeating units in a head-to-tail direction.

A polymeric material which can degrade in less than 6 months is provided. The polymeric material includes a plurality of biodegradable polymers having a polydispersity or molecular weight distribution from about 1.5 to about 2.5. A method of making the polymeric material is also provided. The method includes mixing a plurality of biodegradable polymers together to form a polymeric mixture, wherein the polymeric mixture has a polydispersity from about 1.5 to about 2.5. The application of this polymeric material to medical devices such as and implantable depots is described. A method for treating acute pain in an organism to reduce, prevent or treat pain utilizing these polymeric materials having a polydispersity or molecular weight distribution from about 1.5 to about 2.5 is also provided.

A composition containing polytetrafluoroethylene and substantially free from a compound represented by Formula (3):
(H(CF.sub.2).sub.8SO.sub.3).sub.qM.sup.2
wherein M.sup.2 is H, a metal atom, NR.sup.5.sub.4 (where R.sup.5s may be the same as or different from each other and are each H or an organic group having 1 to 10 carbon atoms), an imidazolium optionally having a substituent, a pyridinium optionally having a substituent, or a phosphonium optionally having a substituent, and q is 1 or 2. Also disclosed is a molded boy including the composition.