Understanding DOW Product Nomenclature

To identify DOW polypropylene glycols and polyglycol copolymers we use a convention of letters and numbers for their names.

DOW Nomenclature	Common Name
P Series	Polypropylene glycols (PPGs)
EP Series	Block Copolymers

Letter Designations
Product names are designated by a capital letter(s) that represents the oxide(s) used to make the polymer. P is for propylene oxide (PO). E is for ethylene oxide (EO). Where these letters are used in combination, means both oxides are used. Other letters, such as B or T are used to determine functionality. B designates a monol(butanol), while T represents triol.

Number Designations
PPGs
The number following the letter indicates the approximate average molecular weight. For example, P425 is a polyethylene glycol of average molecular weight 425.

EP-Series
The last two numbers in the name indicate the number of moles of PO and the first 1 or 2 numbers indicate the total number of moles of EO capped, i.e., EP-530 is a polypropylene glycol with 30 moles of PO, capped with 5 moles of EO.