Prepolymers of absorbable polyoxaesters

A prepolymer comprising an aliphatic polyoxaester having a first divalent repeating unit of formula I:

• ›O--C(O)--C(R.sub.1)(R.sub.2)--O--(R.sub.3)--O--C(R.sub.1) (R.sub.2)--C(O)--!tm I
• and a second repeating unit selected from the group of formulas consisting of:
• ##STR6## and combinations thereof, wherein R.sub.1 and R.sub.2 are independently hydrogen or an alkyl group containing 1 to 8 carbon atoms;
• R.sub.3 is an alkylene unit containing from 2 to 12 carbon atoms or is an oxyalkylene group of the following formula:
• --›(CH.sub.2).sub.C --O--!.sub.D --(CH.sub.2).sub.E -- IV
• wherein C is an integer in the range of from 2 to about 5, D is an integer in the range of from about 0 to about 2,000, and E is an integer in the range of from about 2 to about 5, except when D is zero, in which case E will be an integer from 2 to 12;
• R.sub.4 is an alkylene unit containing from 2 to 8 carbon atoms;
• A is an integer in the range of from 1 to 2,000;
• R.sub.5 is selected from the group consisting of --C(R.sub.6)(R.sub.7)--, --(CH.sub.2).sub.3 --O--, --CH.sub.2 --CH.sub.2 --O--CH.sub.2 --, --CR.sub.8 H--CH.sub.2 --, --(CH.sub.2).sub.5 --, --(CH.sub.2).sub.F --O--C(O)-- and --(CH.sub.2).sub.F --C(O)--CH.sub.2 --;
• R.sub.6 and R.sub.7 are independently hydrogen or an alkyl containing from 1 to 8 carbon atoms;
• R.sub.8 is hydrogen or methyl;
• F is an integer in the range of from 2 to 6;
• B is an integer in the range of from 1 to n such that the number average molecular weight of formula III is less than about 200,000;
• P is an integer in the range of from 1 to m such that the number average molecular weight of formula XI is less than about 1,000,000;
• G represents the residue minus from 1 to L hydrogen atoms from the hydroxyl groups of an alcohol previously containing from 1 to about 200 hydroxyl groups;
• and L is an integer from about 1 to about 200;
• wherein the polyoxaester is covalently linked to a polymerizable region.