Patent ID: 8481073

Claim:
A method of preventing adhesions between tissues of a patient, comprising: (a) providing a dry powder composition including: i. a first component having a first hydrophilic polymer core substituted with m thiol groups, where m≧2; and ii. a second component having a second hydrophilic polymer core substituted with n electrophilic groups, where n≧2 and m+n>4, and wherein the electrophilic group is independently —(CO)—O—(CO)—R (where R is an alkyl group), CH═CH—CH═O, —CH═CH—C(CH 3 )═O, —N═C═O, —N═C═S, —SO 2 CH═CH 2 , —O(CO)—C═CH 2 , —(CO)—C(CH 3 )═CH 2 , —S—S—(C 5 H 4 N), —O(CO)—C(CH 2 CH 3 )═CH 2 , —CH═CH—C═NH, —COOH, —(CO)O—N(COCH 2 ) 2 , —O—(CO)—O—N(COCH 2 ) 2 , —CHO, —(CO)O—N(COCH 2 ) 2 —S(O) 2 OH, and —N(COCH) 2 ; (b) rendering the nucleophilic and electrophilic groups reactive by exposing the composition to an aqueous environment to effect inter-reaction; wherein said exposure comprises: (i) dissolving the dry powder composition in a first solution having a pH within the range of about 2.1-2.3 to form a homogeneous solution, and (ii) adding a second solution having a pH within the range of about 6.0 to 11.0 to the homogeneous solution to form a mixture; and (c) placing the mixture into contact with tissue and allowing a three-dimensional composition to form on the tissue.