UV Absorbent-added Polymerization and its Application as Ophthalmological Material

Abstract

This study was done for the preparation of macromolecular material with UV-blocking features by adding the benzophenone group that is commonly used as a UV-absorbent and TiO_2 which is known to be a very stable material in chemical and physical aspects. Also, we compared the level of UV absorbency of the polymer produced from polymerization with previous materials and measured basic properties such as water content, refractive index and optical transmittance of produced contact lenses. The results of the measurement showed that the refractive index and water content of the contact lens with added UV-absorbent was 1.430~1.440 and 35.0~45.0% respectively, which was similar to that of previous contact lenses. Also, for optical transmittances of each wave length, contact lenses without the UV-absorbent was 89%, 88% and 89% respectively for UV-A, UV-B and visible light, indicating that the UV transmittance is very high though contrary with cases of contact lenses with added 2-hydroxy-4-methoxy-benzophenone and 2,4-dihydroxy-benzophenone which showed transmittances of 0% and 6% respectively for UV-A and UV-B showing a UV-blocking effect. Meanwhile, contact lenses with added TiO_2showed transmittance of 6% and 51% respectively for UV-A and UV-B also showing a UV-blocking effect. The visible transmittance was 77~89% showing that it satisfies the visible transmittance required for ophthalmological materials.