Patent ID: 8637063

Claim:
A method of making a hydrolyzed cross-linked polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)—hydrogel, wherein the method comprises the steps of: (a) polymerizing vinyl acetate (VAc) monomers in the presence of a crosslinking agent having two or more end groups comprised of methacrylate groups wherein the methacrylate groups comprise acrylate or any end group having two double bonds that are compatible with the vinyl acetate and one or more monofunctional monomer molecules, thereby producing a crosslinked poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAc) polymer network containing pendant chains; (b) hydrolyzing the crosslinked PVAc polymer network, thereby forming a hydrogel having a crosslinked hydrophilic PVAc polymer network; and (c) hydrating the PVAc polymer network, thereby forming a hydrolyzed cross-linked hydrogel having a hydrophilic PVAc polymer network and pendant chains.