Parameter Estimation of Mark-Houwink Equation of Polyethylene Glycol (PEG) Using Molecular Mass and Intrinsic Viscosity in Water

Abstract

Polyethylene glycol (PEG) is an ingredient for approved drug products by the Food & Drug Administration. PEG is mostly used as a pharmaceutical adjuvant, ophthalmic and oral acts as an encapsulating agent, plasticizing agent in food packages, modified and/or functionalized materials, among other applications. It is important to know the molecular mass of PEG because it will bring the product configuration for these applications. The use of instrumental techniques is often infeasible due to high investment and operational costs. The viscosimetry by capillary, in the case of a classical technique, simple and inexpensive, allows significant results for the determination of the molecular mass of polymers from the intrinsic viscosity. The objective of the present study was to determine the parameters of the Mark-Houwink equation for PEG using molecular mass and intrinsic viscosity in water at different temperatures. The parameters resulting in “K” between 0.046828 x 10-3 and 0.298291 x 10-3 cm3.g-1 and “α” between 0.40 and 0.70. The viscosimeter by the capillary allowed to obtain significant results for the estimation of the parameters "K" and "α", with a correlation coefficient greater than 98%.