摘要 |
A triblock copolymer having a proportion of units having the formula: <IMAGE> (I) as the end blocks, and the formula (I) randomly combined with a proportion of units having the formula: <IMAGE> (II) as the middle block finds particular advantageous use in manufacturing absorbable monofilament sutures and other surgical articles. A surgical article is manufactured from a synthetic absorbable copolymer formed by copolymerizing glycolide with 1,3-dioxan-2-one (trimethylene carbonate) wherein a combination of the monomers is substantially completely polymerized before the addition of the other monomer in the presence of a difunctional initiator at or below about 180 DEG C.; glycolide is added and the temperature increased up to about the melting point of poly glycolide to form a triblock copolymer with a proportion of units having the formula: <IMAGE> (I) as the end blocks, and the formula (I) randomly combined with a proportion of units having the formula: <IMAGE> (II) as the middle block. |