Highly water-absorptive polymer and process for producing the same

摘要

A process for producing a highly water-absorptive polymer, which comprises suspending an aqueous solution containing a water-soluble polymerizable monomer and an optional crosslinking agent into droplets in a hydrophobic organic solvent in the presence of a dispersant and a water-soluble radical polymerization initiator, and allowing the water-soluble polymerizable monomer to polymerize in the droplets, wherein the dispersant is a phosphoric ester surface active agent represented by the following general formula [I]: wherein R1 represents an alkyl or alkylaryl group having 8 to 30 carbon atoms, R2 represents OH group or a group of the formula -(CH2CH2O)m-OR1, and m and n are an integer of 1 to 30, and the aqueous solution is successively fed to the hydrophobic organic solvent so that the droplets of different polymerization degrees can be present in the solvent.