Polyethylene glycol is produced by the stepwise addition of ethylene oxide and water or ethylene glycol. When preparing polyethylene glycol with a larger molecular weight, polyethylene glycol with a lower molecular weight is often used as the initiator. The polymerization reaction can be carried out in gas phase or liquid phase polymerization.
Polymers play an important role in the biomedical field, and polyethylene glycol (PEG) and its derivatives are among the multifunctional polymers that have attracted much attention.