Hi all,

I’m a formulating chemist in oil field chemicals and the term “oxyalkylated alcohols” usually refers to polyethers resulting from the addition of ethylene oxide and/or propylene oxide, either sequentially or mixed, to an alcohol or mixture of alcohols.  We use a large number of these sorts of molecules in a wide variety of structures.  The generic structure given below would be correct if the first parenthesis were moved thusly,

             R-(OCH₂)_n-ORR 17;

and R’ is H.  If R’ is another organic radical it would be an esterified polyether, sometimes called an “ester alkoxylate”, which materials are also common.

 

Yes, the designation is very vague but not really intended to be obfuscatory.  Its non-specificity is intended to include the broad range of possibilities.

 

And thanks for the opportunity to use “obfuscatory”!

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: DCHAS-L Discussion List [mailto:DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**list.uvm.edu] On Behalf Of Rita Kay Calhoun
Sent: Thursday, August 05, 2010 10:09 AM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] oxyalkylated alcohols

 

Monona,

               & nbsp; I’m an analytical chemist, so I consulted with my “Organic”  colleagues.  The best they can come up with is something like

               & nbsp;                 R-O-(CH₂)_n-OR’

 

i.e., you take a poly-ol and replace one, or more, of the alcohol H’s with an alkyl group.    In SciFinder it shows a similar structure but with the R group being the carboxyl end of an ester and several repeating ether linkages.  Essentially, you’re looking at poly ethers, sometimes as part of an ester.  By the way, this is not really commonly used nomenclature.  I agree that it sounds like the manufacturers are trying to obfuscate. 

 

               & nbsp; Hope this helps. 

 

Kay Calhoun

 

P.S. Thanks for the opportunity to use obfuscate.

 

 

OK, professors, I give up on this class of chemicals.  I am seeing MSDSs on everything from detergents to pesticides to photosensitive chemical developers listing this category of chemical.  Of course, they are hiding an individual chemical by listing a whole class probably by a synonym, but I'm even confused about what the generic structure looks like.

I know what an alkyl group is, so let's call it R-

I know what an alcohol looks like, so lets use ethanol.

Oxy means an 0=

But how do I fit these together into what they are talking about?

Thanks.

Monona