Development of New Soft Contact Lens Materials Using Ester-Monomers of Itaconic Acid from Aspergillus itaconicus

In this study, we confirmed water content and oxygen permeability of new polymeric materials synthesized from itaconic acid used for soft contact lenses. In this study, we polymerized materials for soft contact lenses using HEMA (2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate), the based-monomer of soft contact lenses, EGDMA (ethylene glycol dimethacrylate) as a cross linkage agent, and the new additives mono-ester or di-ester derived from itaconic acid commercially produced by the fermentation of A. itaconicus. New polymer materials for contact lenses were synthesized with the mixture of HEMA and mono- or di-ester at different ratios and water content and oxygen permeability (Dk) was analyzed. In polymerizing HEMA and mono-ester (15%), the water content and oxygen permeability of contact lenses were found to be of good value at 57.7% and 28.6 Dk respectively. The mixture of HEMA and mono-ester is more excellent than HEMA/di-ester in regards to water content and oxygen permeability. The water content and oxygen permeability of soft contact lenses made by new polymeric materials were highly represented.