Superabsorbing polymeric networks

A method of producing polymeric networks comprising crosslinked polyaspartate comprising the steps of:

• a) dissolving a polysuccinimide in a polar aprotic organic solvent;
• b) reacting the dissolved polysuccinimide with an effective crosslinking amount of an organic crosslinking agent that is an organic base containing at least two primary amine groups to form a crosslinked polysuccinimide product to produce a reaction mixture;
• c) slurrying the reaction mixture with sufficient aqueous base to form a gel reaction mixture;
• d) diluting the gel reaction mixture with sufficient water to permit stirring of said gel reaction mixture;
• e) heating and stirring the gel reaction mixture at a selected temperature and maintaining said temperature for a selected period;
• f) cooling said gel reaction mixture to about ambient room temperature and maintaining said temperature for a selected period to produce a product comprising polymeric network gel of polyaspartate and supernatant liquid comprising aprotic solvent.