Patent ID: 8378022

Claim:
A process for preparing a biocompatible, biodegradable, macromolecular water-absorbent hybrid material, having a three-dimensional configuration with intermolecular covalent bonds and containing free functional groups selected from OH, SH, NH 2 and COOH, said polymer being formed by polymer-polymer intercoupling reaction between a natural water-soluble polymer A or a derivative thereof having a molecular weight between 20,000 and 300,000Da, and a synthetic polymer B in a ratio of A to B between 1 and 50% of the dry mixture (A+B), wherein the natural polymer A is selected from: amphoteric reactants, partially denatured or chemically modified natural polymers, that dissociate in water to form both anions and cations, and which can undergo polymer-polymer intercoupling reactions, and wherein: synthetic polymer B is a linear or branched reactive synthetic copolymer having a molecular weight of 50,000-500,000Da derived from a vinyl monomer and an ethylenically unsaturated monomer, said copolymer having a backbone with polymeric subunits R n and R r , wherein R represents a subunit covalently bonded to the polymer backbone, n represents nonreactive chemical functional groups and r represents reactive chemical functional groups said method comprising reacting a solution of the natural polymer A in water with a suspension of the synthetic polymer B in water in the absence of a cross linking or coupling agent, thereby forming the biocompatible, biodegradable, macromolecular water-absorbent hybrid material.