Intermolecular interactions and the reactivity of polyoxyalkyleneglycols

Abstract Empirical methods of calculation and experimental methods have been used to assess the energy of intermolecular interactions in polyoxyethylene- and polyoxypropylene-glycols, together with their dependence on the length and structure of the chain and the contributions from different types of interactions. The contribution from the dipole-dipole interaction between oligomeric chains is essentially lower in polyoxypropylene-glycol than in polyoxy-ethyleneglycol. The effect of the oligomer's chain length on the reactivity of the end-hydroxyl groups in the reaction with isocyanates is indirect and the observed dependence of the reaction's rate constant on the oligomer's molecular mass may be caused by the special features of the intermolecular interactions in each specific system, the orientational interaction between the chains being taken into account.