Meroxapol(s)

Meroxapol refers to a series of so-called block copolymers (copolymers are polymers composed of 2 different monomer units) from the group of alkoxylates. Meroxapol(s) have the general formula: OH-[CH (CH3)2O]n-[CH2-CH2-O]m-[CH2CH(3)-O]n-H. 2

Meroxapol consists of a core with (m) polyethylene glycol (PEG) units. This molecular core is flanked by 2n polypropylene glycol units (PPG) (see figure) with 2 terminal hydroxy groups. This results in a so-called symmetrical block copolymer (see belowcopolymers) of the general type (PPG)n-(PEG)m-(PPG)n. Each Meroxapol block copolymer is provided with a number. This corresponds to the average number of monomer units. In the case of Meroxapol 105, these are 105 monomers. These polymer blends are generally used in cosmetic formulations as emulsifiers and surfactants.