Patent ID: 8008476

Claim:
A method for making porous crosslinked polysaccharide hydrogel coated structures comprising: a) impregnating a porous substrate selected from the group consisting of fibers, woven fabrics, non-woven fabrics, membranes, mats, monolithic honeycomb structures, felt sheets, poly(HIPES) monolithic structures, three dimensional structures, sponges, and porous beads, with a room temperature stable aqueous polysaccharide solution forming a room temperature stable aqueous polysaccharide coating on the substrate, the aqueous solution containing, i) water, ii) a polysaccharide having a concentration in the aqueous solution from about 0.1% to about 20%, and selected from the group consisting of agarose, dextrans, cyclodextrins and blends thereof, iii) a gel-inhibiting agent having a concentration in the aqueous solution from about 18 to about 54%, and selected from the group consisting of ZnCl 2 , LiCl, NaOH, LiNO 3 , LiOH, LiSCN and mixtures thereof, and iv) an anionic fluorosurfactant having a concentration in the aqueous solution from about 0.001% to about 10% by total weight of the aqueous solution; b) evaporating the water from the polysaccharide coating; c) exposing the dehydrated polysaccharide coating to a gelling agent selected from the group consisting of acetone and acetone in water to form a porous polysaccharide hydrogel coated substrate; and d) exposing the hydrogel coated substrate to a crosslinking agent selected from the group consisting of epichlorohydrin, multifunctional epoxy compounds, multifunctional halide compounds, formaldehyde, gluteraldehyde, multifunctional aldehyde compounds, bis(2-hydroxy ethyl)sulfone, dimethyldichlorosilane, dimethylolurea, dimethylol ethylene urea, diisocyanate compounds, and polyisocyanate compounds to form a porous crosslinked polysaccharide hydrogel coated substrate.