NOVELTY - Making polymer particles in gel form via an emulsion or suspension process, involves: preparing reactant mixture comprising carrier fluid and monomer component containing phenolic compound and optionally at least one crosslinking compound, and/or mixture of Maillard reactants, where: monomer component polymerizes to form polymer particles in gel form, the reactant mixture is located within a reactor having inner surface in contact with reactant mixture during polymerization of the monomer component, and inner surfaces limit a release of metal, and/or metal ions into reactant mixture.    USE - For making polymer particles in gel form (claimed), which can be processed into aerogel, xerogel, and/or cryogel particles useful in insulation, energy, e.g. in capacitors, batteries, and fuel cells, medicine, e.g. drug delivery, transportation, e.g. hydrogen or other fuel storage, sensors, sports, catalysts, hazardous waste water treatment, catalyst supports, sorbents, dielectrics, impedance matcher, detectors, filtrations, ion exchange, high- energy physics applications, waste management, such as adsorption of waste fluids and/or waste gases.    ADVANTAGE - The polymer particles in gel form can be further processed to produce aerogel, xerogel, and/or cryogel particles, thus avoiding the intermediate production of a monolithic gel structure that requires at least one mechanical process, e.g. grinding, milling, pulverizing, and the like, to reduce monolithic gel structure into polymer particles.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - Making polymer particles in gel form via an emulsion or suspension process, involves: preparing a reactant mixture comprising a carrier fluid and a monomer component containing at least one phenolic compound and optionally at least one crosslinking compound, and/or a mixture of Maillard reactants, where: the monomer component polymerizes to form the polymer particles in gel form, the reactant mixture is located within a reactor having at least one inner surface in contact with the reactant mixture during polymerization of the monomer component, and the inner surfaces limit a release of metal, and/or metal ions into the reactant mixture to produce the polymer particles in gel form containing less than 1 wt.% metal atoms, and/or metal ions, based on the total weight of the polymer particles in gel form.