Past studies on the toxicological effects of ethylene glycol alkyl ethers as well as the recent data on these chemicals in Japan are reviewed. Only a few researchers have participated in the study of ethylene glycol alkyl ethers in Japan. The effects of ethylene glycol alkyl ethers on testis and embryotoxic effects of ethylene glycol monomethyl ether (EGM) have been studied, as has the teratoge...

Kathryn Rosica of the Chemical Manufacturers Association raised an interesting point in her letter (EHP vol. 102, p. 1006). Neither the term "glycol ethers" nor the term "ethylene glycol ethers" strictly identifies a class of chemicals whose members all share a common distinctive toxicological profile. As Rosica correctly noted, "Higher molecular weight ethylene glycol monoethers that have been...

To assist evaluation of the hazards of skin contact with selected undiluted glycol ethers, their absorption across isolated human abdominal epidermis was measured in vitro. Epidermal membranes were set up in glass diffusion cells and, following an initial determination of permeability to tritiated water, excess undiluted glycol ether was applied to the outer surface for 8 hr. The appearance of ...

Glycol ethers are solvents widely used alone and as mixtures in industrial and household products. Some glycol ethers have been shown to have a range of toxic effects in humans following absorption and metabolism to their aldehyde and acid metabolites. This study assessed the influence of water mixtures on the dermal absorption of butoxyethanol and ethoxyethanol in vitro through human skin. But...

The Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR) Expert Panel assessed the safety of 131 alkyl polyethylene glycol (PEG)/polypropylene glycol ethers as used in cosmetics, concluding that these ingredients are safe in the present practices of use and concentration described in this safety assessment when formulated to be nonirritating. Most of the alkyl PEG/PPG ethers included in this review are reported to...

A mild and efficient protocol for the deprotection of silyl ethers using KF in tetraethylene glycol is reported. A wide range of alcoholic silyl ethers can be selectively cleaved in high yield in the presence of certain acid- and base-labile functional groups. Moreover, the phenolic silyl ethers were cleaved exclusively, without affecting the alcoholic silyl ethers, at room temperature.

OBJECTIVES Ethylene glycol ethers and their acetates are widely used in industry, because of their hydrophilic and simultaneously lipophilic properties. Ethylene glycol ethers and their acetates are mainly metabolised to alkoxyacetic acids, but there is also a minor pathway through ethylene glycol to oxalic acid. The main pathway of ethylene glycol ethers is associated with significant clinical...

Human glycol ether poisonings are sparsely reported in the medical literature. We describe a healthy 22-month-old boy who accidentally drank up to 330 mL of brake fluid containing a 75% bleed of various glycol ethers (5%-50% polyethylene glycol monomethyl ether, 15%-40% triethylene glycol monoethyl ether, 1%-30% triethylene glycol monomethyl ether, 1%-25% triethylene glycol monobutyl ether, 1%-...

Formation of natural gas hydrate is a serious problem in the gas and oil industry because it can plug pipelines and destroy the equipment. This study aimes to evaluate the concentration effect of glycol ethers on their synergism with a commercial kinetic hydrate inhibitor (Luvicap 55W) in sweet natural gas-water systems at a constant temperature of 4 oC and pressure of 95 bar. Hydrate formation...

The genetic toxicology of glycol ethers is reviewed. Ethylene glycol monomethyl ether (EGME) and diglyme have been more extensively studied than other members of this series. Most results indicate a lack of genotoxic potential, but certain tests have yielded positive responses with certain compounds. Ethylene glycol monoethyl ether (EGEE) induced sister chromatid exchanges and chromosomal aberr...