{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,26]],"date-time":"2026-09-26T14:09:08Z","timestamp":1790431748837,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":52,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,15]],"date-time":"2022-04-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1649980800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Molecules"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Aqueous solutions of polyethylene glycol are studied by small-angle neutron scattering over a broad range of polymer molecular masses and concentrations. The scattering data were modeled by a Gaussian chain form factor combined with random phase approximation, which provided good fits over the whole studied concentration range. The results showed that polyethylene glycol in the molecular mass range 0.4\u201320 kDa in water at physiological temperature T = 37 \u00b0C behaves like a random coil in nearly theta solvent conditions. The obtained results serve as a reference for the description of complex mixtures with PEG used in various applications.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/molecules27082573","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,19]],"date-time":"2022-04-19T01:03:01Z","timestamp":1650330181000},"page":"2573","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":29,"title":["Structure and Intermolecular Interactions in Aqueous Solutions of Polyethylene Glycol"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"27","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5750-5788","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"L\u00e1szl\u00f3","family":"Alm\u00e1sy","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Environment-Friendly Energy Materials, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang 621010, China"},{"name":"Institute for Energy Security and Environmental Safety, Centre for Energy Research, Konkoly-Thege Mikl\u00f3s \u00fat 29-33, 1121 Budapest, Hungary"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1560-0511","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Oleksandr P.","family":"Artykulnyi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Physics, Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University, 01601 Kyiv, Ukraine"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6532-8902","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Viktor I.","family":"Petrenko","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"BCMaterials, Basque Centre for Materials, Applications and Nanostructures, 48940 Leioa, Spain"},{"name":"IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, 48009 Bilbao, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7775-0008","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Oleksandr I.","family":"Ivankov","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Physics, Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University, 01601 Kyiv, Ukraine"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8063-6441","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Leonid A.","family":"Bulavin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Physics, Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University, 01601 Kyiv, Ukraine"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5931-8967","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Minhao","family":"Yan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Environment-Friendly Energy Materials, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang 621010, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9315-4188","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Vasil M.","family":"Haramus","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon, Max-Planck-Street 1, 21502 Geesthacht, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"283","article-title":"Long-circulating and target-specific nanoparticles: Theory to practice","volume":"53","author":"Moghimi","year":"2001","journal-title":"Pharmacol. Rev."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"149","DOI":"10.1016\/0021-9797(91)90043-8","article-title":"Protein\u2014Surface interactions in the presence of polyethylene oxide: I. Simplified theory","volume":"142","author":"Jeon","year":"1991","journal-title":"J. Colloid Interface Sci."},{"key":"ref_3","first-page":"157","article-title":"Chemistry of polyethylene glycol conjugates with biologically active molecules","volume":"16","author":"Zalipsky","year":"1995","journal-title":"J. Colloid Interface Sci."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"217","DOI":"10.1016\/S0169-409X(02)00180-1","article-title":"Effective drug delivery by PEGylated drug conjugates","volume":"55","author":"Greenwald","year":"2003","journal-title":"Adv. Drug Deliv. Rev."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"459","DOI":"10.1016\/S0169-409X(02)00022-4","article-title":"Chemistry for peptide and protein PEGylation","volume":"54","author":"Roberts","year":"2002","journal-title":"Adv. Drug Deliv. Rev."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1177","DOI":"10.1016\/j.addr.2004.01.011","article-title":"Tumor cell targeting of liposome-entrapped drugs with phospholipid-anchored folic acid\u2013PEG conjugates","volume":"56","author":"Gabizon","year":"2004","journal-title":"Adv. Drug Deliv. Rev."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1553","DOI":"10.1016\/S0142-9612(01)00267-8","article-title":"Surface modification of superparamagnetic magnetite nanoparticles and their intracellular uptake","volume":"23","author":"Zhang","year":"2002","journal-title":"Biomaterials"},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2298","DOI":"10.2174\/138161210791920496","article-title":"Factors that control the circulation time of nanoparticles in blood: Challenges, solutions and future prospects","volume":"16","author":"Yoo","year":"2010","journal-title":"Curr. Pharm. Des."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"113045","DOI":"10.1016\/j.molliq.2020.113045","article-title":"Structural investigations of poly(ethylene glycol)-dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid complexes in aqueous solutions","volume":"308","author":"Artykulnyi","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Mol. Liq."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"715","DOI":"10.2217\/nnm.11.19","article-title":"Nanoparticle PEGylation for imaging and therapy","volume":"6","author":"Jokerst","year":"2011","journal-title":"Nanomedicine"},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6288","DOI":"10.1002\/anie.200902672","article-title":"Poly(ethylene glycol) in drug delivery: Pros and cons as well as potential alternatives","volume":"49","author":"Knop","year":"2010","journal-title":"Angew. Chem. Int."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"142","DOI":"10.1021\/am201166m","article-title":"A facile synthesis of PEG-coated magnetite (Fe3O4) nanoparticles and their prevention of the reduction of Cytochrome C","volume":"4","author":"Mukhopadhyay","year":"2012","journal-title":"ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces"},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"023501","DOI":"10.1088\/1468-6996\/16\/2\/023501","article-title":"Recent progress on magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles: Synthesis, surface functional strategies and biomedical applications","volume":"16","author":"Wu","year":"2015","journal-title":"Sci. Technol. Adv. Mater."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"254","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ymeth.2004.03.019","article-title":"Introduction to protein crystallization","volume":"34","author":"McPherson","year":"2004","journal-title":"Methods"},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2","DOI":"10.1107\/S2053230X13033141","article-title":"Introduction to protein crystallization","volume":"70","author":"McPherson","year":"2014","journal-title":"Acta Crystallogr. F Struct. Biol. Commun."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2477","DOI":"10.1021\/acs.macromol.6b02571","article-title":"Poly(ethylene glycol)s in semidilute regime: Radius of gyration in the bulk and partitioning into a nanopore","volume":"50","author":"Gurnev","year":"2017","journal-title":"Macromolecules"},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"334","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jcis.2021.06.015","article-title":"Conformation of poly (ethylene glycol) in aqueous cholinium amino acid hybrid solvents","volume":"602","author":"Brunner","year":"2021","journal-title":"J. Colloid Interface Sci."},{"key":"ref_18","first-page":"334","article-title":"Polymer characterization: Quasi-elastic and elastic light scattering","volume":"18","author":"Burchard","year":"1988","journal-title":"Macromol. Symp."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"8578","DOI":"10.1021\/ma011657n","article-title":"SANS from poly(ethylene oxide)\/water systems","volume":"35","author":"Hammouda","year":"2002","journal-title":"Macromolecules"},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"084901","DOI":"10.1063\/1.3484235","article-title":"Clustering in polar media","volume":"133","author":"Hammouda","year":"2010","journal-title":"J. Chem. Phys."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3355","DOI":"10.1021\/bm301123a","article-title":"Structure and properties of aqueous methylcellulose gels by small-angle neutron scattering","volume":"13","author":"Chatterjee","year":"2002","journal-title":"Biomacromolecules"},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6932","DOI":"10.1021\/ma049623d","article-title":"Insight into clustering in poly(ethylene oxide) solutions","volume":"37","author":"Hammouda","year":"2004","journal-title":"Macromolecules"},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2196","DOI":"10.1002\/polb.21221","article-title":"Insight into chain dimensions in PEO\/water solutions","volume":"45","author":"Hammouda","year":"2007","journal-title":"J. Polym. Sci. Part B"},{"key":"ref_24","first-page":"70","article-title":"Temperature dependence of the virial coefficients and the chi parameter in semi-dilute solutions of PEG","volume":"130","author":"Pedersen","year":"2005","journal-title":"Prog. Colloid Polym. Sci."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"171","DOI":"10.1016\/S0001-8686(97)00312-6","article-title":"Analysis of small-angle scattering data from colloids and polymer solutions: Modeling and least-squares fitting","volume":"70","author":"Pedersen","year":"1997","journal-title":"Adv. Colloid Interface Sci."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"20","DOI":"10.1002\/masy.201200117","article-title":"Structure and interaction of poly(ethylene glycol) in aqueous solutions. Small-angle neutron scattering data","volume":"335","author":"Petrenko","year":"2014","journal-title":"Macromol. Symp."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"5293","DOI":"10.1016\/j.polymer.2009.09.015","article-title":"The mystery of clustering in macromolecular media","volume":"50","author":"Hammouda","year":"2009","journal-title":"Polymer"},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4852","DOI":"10.1016\/j.polymer.2009.08.023","article-title":"Poly(ethylene glycol)s 2000\u20138000 in water may be planar: A small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) structure study","volume":"50","author":"Rubinson","year":"2009","journal-title":"Polymer"},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2618","DOI":"10.1016\/j.polymer.2009.03.043","article-title":"Experimental compressibilities and average intermolecular distances of poly(ethylene glycol) molecular masses 2000\u20138000 Da in aqueous solution","volume":"50","author":"Rubinson","year":"2009","journal-title":"Polymer"},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1905","DOI":"10.1039\/c3sm52395k","article-title":"SANS study of highly resilient poly(ethylene glycol) hydrogels","volume":"10","author":"Saffer","year":"2014","journal-title":"Soft Matter"},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"980","DOI":"10.12693\/APhysPolA.118.980","article-title":"SANS study of poly(ethylene glycol) solutions in D2O","volume":"118","author":"Lancz","year":"2010","journal-title":"Acta Phys. Pol. A"},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"191","DOI":"10.1016\/j.colsurfa.2014.11.064","article-title":"Impact of polyethylene glycol on aqueous micellar solutions of sodium oleate studied by small-angle neutron scattering","volume":"480","author":"Petrenko","year":"2015","journal-title":"Coll. Surf. A"},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1142","DOI":"10.1134\/S1027451018050543","article-title":"On the impact of polyethylene glycol on the structure of aqueous micellar solutions of sodium oleate according to small-angle neutron scattering","volume":"12","author":"Artykulnyi","year":"2018","journal-title":"J. Surf. Investig."},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"806","DOI":"10.1016\/j.molliq.2018.12.035","article-title":"Impact of poly (ethylene glycol) on the structure and interaction parameters of aqueous micellar solutions of anionic surfactants","volume":"276","author":"Artykulnyi","year":"2019","journal-title":"J. Mol. Liq."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"67","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jmmm.2016.10.104","article-title":"On the adsorption properties of magnetic fluids: Impact of bulk structure","volume":"427","author":"Kubovcikova","year":"2017","journal-title":"J. Magn. Magn. Mater."},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"959","DOI":"10.1107\/S0021889810025379","article-title":"Structure of water-based ferrofluids with sodium oleate and polyethylene glycol stabilization by small-angle neutron scattering: Contrast-variation experiments","volume":"43","author":"Avdeev","year":"2010","journal-title":"J. Appl. Cryst."},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1408","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jmmm.2010.11.060","article-title":"Magnetic fluid poly(ethylene glycol) with moderate anticancer activity","volume":"323","author":"Zavisova","year":"2011","journal-title":"J. Magn. Magn. Mater."},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"124","DOI":"10.1016\/0168-9002(94)01461-2","article-title":"Proton-and deuteron spin targets in biological structure research","volume":"356","author":"Stuhrmann","year":"1995","journal-title":"Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. Sect. A."},{"key":"ref_39","first-page":"28","article-title":"Absolute calibration of small-angle neutron scattering data","volume":"20","author":"Wignall","year":"1987","journal-title":"Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. Sect. A."},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1100","DOI":"10.1002\/app.31829","article-title":"Solubility profiles of poly(ethylene glycol)\/solvent systems. II. Comparison of thermodynamic parameters from viscosity measurements","volume":"117","author":"Dinc","year":"2010","journal-title":"J. Appl. Polym. Sci."},{"key":"ref_41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"203","DOI":"10.1002\/app.23191","article-title":"Solution thermodynamics of poly(ethylene glycol)\/water systems","volume":"101","year":"2006","journal-title":"J. Appl. Polym. Sci."},{"key":"ref_42","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"18","DOI":"10.1021\/j150451a002","article-title":"Molecular-weight determination by light scattering","volume":"51","author":"Debye","year":"1947","journal-title":"J. Phys. Chem."},{"key":"ref_43","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1590","DOI":"10.1529\/biophysj.108.133025","article-title":"Molecular dynamics studies of polyethylene oxide and polyethylene glycol: Hydrodynamic radius and shape anisotropy","volume":"95","author":"Lee","year":"2008","journal-title":"Biophys. J."},{"key":"ref_44","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"438","DOI":"10.1021\/ma4016714","article-title":"Atomistic simulations of poly(ethylene oxide) in water and an ionic liquid at room temperature","volume":"47","author":"Mondal","year":"2014","journal-title":"Macromolecules"},{"key":"ref_45","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"8739","DOI":"10.1021\/acs.macromol.7b02014","article-title":"Coil dimensions of poly(ethylene oxide) in an ionic liquid by small-angle neutron scattering","volume":"50","author":"Kharel","year":"2017","journal-title":"Macromolecules"},{"key":"ref_46","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1054","DOI":"10.1134\/S0036024419060207","article-title":"Viscometric determination of the conformations and sizes of polyethylene glycol macromolecules in aqueous solutions","volume":"93","author":"Masimov","year":"2019","journal-title":"Russ. J. Phys. Chem. A"},{"key":"ref_47","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"159","DOI":"10.1016\/S0969-806X(99)00279-0","article-title":"X-ray scattering in polymers and micelles","volume":"56","author":"Fairclough","year":"1999","journal-title":"Radiat. Phys. Chem."},{"key":"ref_48","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Feh\u00e9r, B., Varga, I., and Pedersen, J.S. (2022). Effect of concentration and ionic strength on the lower critical solution temperature of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) investigated by small-angle X-ray scattering. Soft Mater., in press.","DOI":"10.1080\/1539445X.2021.1979041"},{"key":"ref_49","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"151","DOI":"10.6028\/jres.118.008","article-title":"Temperature effect on the nanostructure of SDS micelles in water","volume":"118","author":"Hammouda","year":"2013","journal-title":"J. Res. Natl. Inst. Stand. Technol."},{"key":"ref_50","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"385","DOI":"10.1016\/j.colsurfa.2016.03.028","article-title":"Urea-based gemini surfactants: Synthesis, aggregation behavior and biological activity","volume":"497","author":"Tian","year":"2016","journal-title":"Colloids Surf. A"},{"key":"ref_51","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"91","DOI":"10.1016\/j.colsurfa.2008.12.001","article-title":"Interaction of mono-carboxylic acids in benzene studied by small-angle neutron scattering","volume":"337","author":"Petrenko","year":"2009","journal-title":"Colloids Surf. A"},{"key":"ref_52","first-page":"276","article-title":"Effects of isotopic substitution on the conformational properties of polymeric aqueous solutions","volume":"332","author":"Branca","year":"2000","journal-title":"Phys. B"}],"container-title":["Molecules"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1420-3049\/27\/8\/2573\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T22:55:08Z","timestamp":1760136908000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1420-3049\/27\/8\/2573"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,15]]},"references-count":52,"journal-issue":{"issue":"8","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,4]]}},"alternative-id":["molecules27082573"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/molecules27082573","relation":{},"ISSN":["1420-3049"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1420-3049","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,15]]}}}