Canadian Medical Guide > Chemicals and Drugs > Organic Chemicals > Alcohols > Glycols > Ethylene Glycols Terms and Definitions

Ethylene Glycols

Medical Definition:	An ethylene compound with two hydroxy groups (-OH) located on adjacent carbons. They are viscous and colorless liquids. Some are used as anesthetics or hypnotics. However, the class is best known for their use as a coolant or antifreeze.
Guide Notes:	ETHYLENE GLYCOL is also available
Previously Indexed:	Glycols (1966-1974)

Ethylene Glycols Categories.

	Chloral Hydrate - A hypnotic and sedative used in the treatment of insomnia. The safety margin is too narrow for chloral hydrate to be used as a general anesthetic in humans, but it is commonly used for that purpose in animal experiments. It is no longer considered useful as an anti-anxiety medication.
	Ethylene Glycol - A colorless, odorless, viscous dihydroxy alcohol. It has a sweet taste, but is poisonous if ingested. Ethylene glycol is the most important glycol commercially available and is manufactured on a large scale in the United States. It is used as an antifreeze and coolant, in hydraulic fluids, and in the manufacture of low-freezing dynamites and resins.
	Methoxyhydroxyphenylglycol - Synthesized from endogenous epinephrine and norepinephrine in vivo. It is found in brain, blood, CSF, and urine, where its concentrations are used to measure catecholamine turnover.
	Polyethylene Glycols - Additional polymers of ethylene oxide and water and their ethers. They vary in consistency from liquid to solid, depending on the molecular weight, indicated by a number following the name. Used as surfactants in industry, including foods, cosmetics and pharmaceutics; in biomedicine, as dispersing agents, solvents, ointment and suppository bases, vehicles, tablet excipients. Some specific groups are lauromagrogols, nonoxynols, octoxynols and poloxamers.

Ethylene Glycols Medical Definitions and Terms

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