Organosiloxy methyl alkanes

Organosilicon compounds of the general formula: wherein R is an alkyl radical of 1 to 4 C atoms, each R1 and R11 are H atoms or alkyl radicals of 1 to 4 C atoms, n is 3 or 4, x is an integer greater than 3 and y is an integer greater than 2, may be made by heating to between 50 DEG and 300 DEG C. a polyalkylene glycol monoalkyl ether of the formula R-(-O.CH2.CHR1)x-OH, a dialkoxy dimethylpolysiloxane of the formula: R111O-(-Si(CH3)2-O-)y-R111, wherein R111 is a lower alkyl radical, and a polyol of one of the formulae: wherein z is zero or an integer, in the presence of an acid catalyst in amount of at least 0.05% by weight of the reactants, driving off the alcohol R111OH formed during the reaction, and recovering the reaction product after neutralising the catalyst. The process can be effected in one step, or advantageously in two steps by first reacting the siloxane with the alkoxylated polyol or the glycol ether, in the presence of a catalyst (preferably a fluorinated fatty acid), then further transesterifying the product by refluxing with the glycol ether or the polyol (respectively) in the presence of an acid catalyst. In a typical example (1), a mixture of toluene, 1,2-bis-(b -hydroxypropoxy)-ethane, a , o -diethoxy-dime-thylpolysiloxane, mono-n-butyl ether of polypropylene glycol and trifluoroacetic acid, was refluxed until homogeneous, whilst the ethanol formed and some toluene were distilled off; the mixture was then neutralised with b -hydroxyethylamine, freed of solvent and filtered to yield an oily product of 1, 2-bis-[b -(n-butoxy-poly-propoxy-dimethylpolysiloxy)-propoxy] ethane. The compounds, similar to those of the parent Specification, are hydrophilic and of use in cosmetic preparations and as emulsifying agents.