Medical devices fabricated from copolymers having recurring carbonate units

Claim 1

A medical device formed totally or in part of one or more biopolymers selected from the group consisting of copolymers containing repeating units derived from a dioxanone and at least one recurring monomeric unit of the following General Structures I and II: ##STR12## wherein: Z is --C(R 5 R 6 )], --NR 5 ], --O-- or a combination thereof, where Z is selected such that there are no adjacent heteroatoms; n is from 1 to about 8; m is from 1 to about 8; R 1 , R 2 , R 3 , and R 4 are the same or different at each occurrence and are hydrogen, aryloxyalkyl, alkoxyaryl, aryloxyaryl, arylalkyl, alkylarylalkyl, arylalkylaryl, alkylaryl, arylcarbonylalkyl, alkyl, aryl, alkylcarbonylalkyl, cycloalkyl, arylcarbonylaryl, alkylcarbonylaryl, alkoxyalkyl, or aryl or alkyl substituted with one or more biologically compatible substituents; and R 5 and R 6 are the same or different and are R 1 , R 2 , R 3 , R 4 , dialkylamino, diarylamino, alkylarylamino, alkoxy, aryloxy, alkanoyl, or arylcarbonyl, or any two of R 1 to R 6 together may form an alkylene chain completing a 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 or 9 membered alicyclic fused, spiro, bicyclic and/or tricyclic ring system, which system may optionally include one or more non-adjacent carbonyl, oxa, alkylaza or acylaza groups.