Polyethylene glycol advantages

In certain brilliantine compositions, vegetable and animal oils are used as substitutes for mineral oil. In these systems, because of their potential for rancidity, antioxidants must be included. Other alternatives to mineral oils that have found utiHty in brilliantines are the polyethylene glycols which come in a variety of solubiHties and spreading properties. Use of these materials offers the advantage of chemical stabiHty to rancidity. Other additives found in brilliantines to improve their aesthetics include colorants, fragrance, medicated additives, lanolin, and fatty acid esters. 

Sorbitan esters of fatty acids are well known. Similar products can be made from ether carboxylic acids and sorbitol without an acid catalyst with a good color [39]. The advantage of these products is that the hydrophilicity can be adjusted by the polyethylene glycol content in the ether carboxylic acid. 

It was a result of demand from industry in the mid-1960s for an alternative to be found for the expensive traditional synthetic procedures that led to the evolution of phase-transfer catalysis in which hydrophilic anions could be transferred into an organic medium. Several phase-transfer catalysts are available quaternary ammonium, phosphonium and arsonium salts, crown ethers, cryptands and polyethylene glycols. Of these, the quaternary ammonium salts are the most versatile and, compared with the crown ethers, which have many applications, they have the advantage of being relatively cheap, stable and non-toxic [1, 2]. Additionally, comparisons of the efficiencies of the various catalysts have shown that the ammonium salts are superior to the crown ethers and polyethylene glycols and comparable with the cryptands [e.g. 3, 4], which have fewer proven applications and require higher... 

High molecular weight polymers. Other organic compounds which can be used for the precipitation of enzymes are water-soluble, neutral polymers such as polyethylene glycol (PEG). These have the advantages of being non-toxic, non-flammable and nondenaturing to proteins. 

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