be used in conjunction with monomers providing the required functional groups acrylic and methacrylic acids alkyl and cycloalkyl acrylates and methacrylates n 1 1 dimethyl 3 oxobutyl acrylamide and heterocyclic n vinyl compounds containing a carbonyl functionality adjacent to the nitrogen in the ring such as n vinyl pyrrolidone a cross linking agent such as ethylene glycol dimethacrylate or diethylene glycol bis allyl carbonate may be used to provide the polymeric material a preferred lens material is hydroxyethyl methacrylate hema as disclosed in u s pat no 2 976 576 and u s pat re no 27 401 an example of a 34 hard 34 contact lens material having an acceptable functional group is cellulose acetate butyrate the present invention employs a reactive ultraviolet absorbing agent of the following formula str5 where x cl or f the ultraviolet radiation absorbing component a is preferably selected from the group including str6 where r 1 r 3 are selected from the group consisting of h alkyl chains varying from c 1 to c 18 alkoxy halogen nitro hydroxy carboxy sulfonic acid and sulfonic acid salt substituents it is also preferred that the aqueous soluble moiety have the formula str7 where y is an amine salt or an alkali salt and r 1 r 2 are selected from the group.