Physicochemical Properties of Cellulose Ethers

Cellulose ethers are naturally derived ingredients that are commonly used in personal care products as rheology modifiers, film formers, stabilizers, and sensorial agents. In this work, we investigated the physicochemical properties of various grades of hydroxyethylcellulose (HEC), hydroxypropylcellulose (HPC), hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (HPMC), methylcellulose (MC), and sodium carboxymethylcellulose (CMC). In addition, we also studied the influence of hydrophobic modification on the structure of HEC by carrying out experiments with cetyl hydroxyethylcellulose (HMHEC). Rheological, friction coefficient, dynamic vapor sorption (DVS), surface tension analysis, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) data were generated for the cellulose ethers in order to obtain information about their viscosity, lubricity, moisture absorption, solubility in the bulk solution phase, physical properties, and thermal degradation profile, respectively.