Water-soluble Hydroxyethylcellulose Glycol Cellulose

The water-soluble hydroxyethylcellulose has only a limited use as compared to water-soluble methylcellulose, principally because of the difficulty of isolating the product. Aqueous solutions of hydroxyethylcellulose do not gel on heating and the product is about as soluble in hot water as in cold, so that the method used for isolating water-soluble methylcellulose is not applicable. However, by dialyzing the reaction product the alkali and salts may be removed and the product isolated. 

The properties of hydroxyethylcellulose are like those of methylcellulose except for the fact that there is little or no temperature effect on solubility. The degree of substitution required to impart water solubility will depend both upon the degree of polymerization of the cellulose and upon the uniformity of substitution. It is of interest 

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