WATER SORPTION, BINDING AND SOLUBILITY OF POLYOLS

The sorption of water by polyhydroxyalkanes and polyalkylene glycols h as been studied at 35-degrees-C and 75% relative humidity. The solubil ities in water of these compounds were taken from the literature or me asured by us, and found to be predictable from Yalkowski's expression and to correlate with the water sorption ability, with some notable ex ceptions, rationalized with reference to the configurations of the com pounds in question. In very concentrated aqueous solutions all the wat er is bound to the polyols; in dilute solutions two or four molecules of water are bound per oxygen atom of the polyhydroxyalkanes and polye thylene glycols, respectively.