Photopolymerisable Macromers Based on Acrylated Poly(vinyl alcohol)

The key point of interest of this work ¿ poly(vinyl alcohol), PVAl ¿ is a polymer of major industrial importance. World production of the polymer is approaching 500,000 tons per year and can be expected to increase as new application niches are being discovered. The traditional fields of PVAl application include paper production and/or coating, warp sizing, adhesives and protective colloids, films and other. However, chemical modification of PVAl further widens the possibilities of PVAl use. The book deals with a special group of PVAl derivatives ¿ acrylated macromers. Such compounds can be crosslinked at mild conditions by radical (photo)polymerization. PVAl based macromers find extensive use in functional coatings, hydrogels, biocompatible scaffolds etc.