Polymers which can be cross-linked by photopolymerization

Claim 1

A process for the production of photographic relief images or photoresists comprising the steps of imagewise exposing a supported light-sensitive material with a photocrosslinkable polymer in the layer, washing away the unexposed areas of the photosensitive layer to form a relief image of photocrosslinked polymeric material the improvement wherein the said photocrosslinkable polymer compound is a photopolymer of recurrent units of the general formula ##EQU6## wherein R stands for hydrogen or alkyl having up to 4 carbon atoms and R 1 represents hydrogen or alkyl having up to 4 carbon atoms, R 2 stands for hydrogen or alkyl having up to 8 carbon atoms, and A represents a divalent aliphatic bridging member having 2-4 carbon atoms or a bridging member of the formula --(CH.sub.2 --CH.sub.2 --O).sub.m --CH.sub.2 --CH.sub.2 -- wherein m represents an integer of 1 to 3, n is 2 or more, wherein the photopolymer is either a homopolymer or a copolymer with comonomers selected from the group consisting of vinyl monomers, vinyl esters, vinyl ethers, acrylic and methacrylic acid and their derivatives, maleic acid anhydride, and styrene and the light-sensitive polymer has an average molecular weight of between 10,000 and 100,000.