Polyethylene Glycol
“Polyethylene glycol (PEG)is a polyether compound with many applications from industrial manufacturing to medicine. It has also been known as polyethylene oxide (PEO) or polyoxyethylene (POE), depending on its molecular weight, and under the tradename Carbowax.”
“PEG, PEO, or POE refers to an oligomer or polymer of ethylene oxide. The three names are chemically synonymous, but historically PEG has tended to refer to oligomers and polymers with a molecular mass below 20,000 g/mol, PEO to polymers with a molecular mass above 20,000 g/mol, and POE to a polymer of any molecular mass. PEG and PEO are liquids or low-melting solids, depending on their molecular weights. PEGs are prepared by polymerization of ethylene oxide and are commercially available over a wide range of molecular weights from 300 g/mol to 10,000,000 g/mol. While PEG and PEO with different molecular weights find use in different applications and have different physical properties (e.g., viscosity) due to chain length effects, their chemical properties are nearly identical.”
(Wikipedia, Polyethylene Glycol, 4/14/2011)
Polyethers
Polyethylene Glycol /POSS Nanocomposites
Polyethylene Glycol (PEG) Photovoltaics
Polymers /Resins
Polyrotaxanes with Polyethylene Glycol based Polymers
Review Articles
Green polymer chemistry: Precision synthesis of novel multifunctional poly(ethylene glycol)s using enzymatic catalysis Review Article
(524-534) European Polymer Journal 47 #4 (2011)
Puskas, Seo and Se of the the University of Akron, Ohio, reviews enzyme catalysis, and reports the precision synthesis of multifunctional poly(ethylene glycol)s using this green chemistry approach. Specifically, vinyl acrylate was transesterified with tetraethylene glycol (TEG) and a PEG with DPn = 23, and then (HO)2–TEG–(OH)2 and (HO)2–PEG–(OH)2 were synthesized by the Michael addition of diethanolamine to the acrylate double bonds. These structures will serve as the core of novel dendrimers designed for drug delivery applications. (RDC 4/8/2011)