Polyoxyethylene (POE) Content of Poloxamers

Poloxamers are block-copolymers consisting of Polyoxyethylene-(POE-) and Polyoxypropylene-(POP) units. These materials are characterised by the chain length of the components. These in turn will affect parameters such as molecular weight, appearance, hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity and solubility. Due to their surfactant properties these polymers are widely used in industrial applications, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. They have also been evaluated for various drug delivery applications and were shown to sensitize drug resistant cancers to chemotherapy.

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) may be used for the simple and rapid determination of the percentage of POE in poloxamers.