Patent ID: 7288597

Claim:
A process of making a polymeric hydrogel comprising maleic anhydride or maleic acid polymer, or copolymer thereof, with an alkylvinylether or olefin, crosslinked with a crosslinking agent having at least 2 crosslinkable groups, where the crosslinkable group is selected from the group consisting of an alcohol (—OH), amine (—NH 2 ) or alcohol-amine (—OH) (—NH 2 ), and water which comprises forming a reaction mixture of maleic anhydride or maleic acid-polymer or copolymer thereof with an alkyl vinyl ether or olefin, with said crosslinking agent, in a predetermined portion as a paste or slurry with water, and reacting and extruding the paste or slurry at a predetermined temperature to form said polymeric hydrogel.