Ethyl methyl cellulose is a

thickener A thickening agent or thickener is a substance which can increase the viscosity of a liquid without substantially changing its other properties. Edible thickeners are commonly used to thicken sauces, soups, and puddings without altering their t ...

vegetable gum Natural gums are polysaccharides of natural origin, capable of causing a large increase in a solution's viscosity, even at small concentrations. They are mostly botanical gums, found in the woody elements of plants or in seed coatings. Human u ...

, foaming agent and emulsifier. Its E number is E465.Methyl Ethyl Cellulose
monograph prepared at the 17th JECFA (1973), published in FNP 4 (1978) and in FNP 52 (1992) Chemically, it is a

derivative In mathematics, the derivative of a function of a real variable measures the sensitivity to change of the function value (output value) with respect to a change in its argument (input value). Derivatives are a fundamental tool of calculus. ...

cellulose Cellulose is an organic compound with the formula , a polysaccharide consisting of a linear chain of several hundred to many thousands of β(1→4) linked D-glucose units. Cellulose is an important structural component of the primary cell w ...

with ethyl and methyl groups attached by

ether In organic chemistry, ethers are a class of compounds that contain an ether group—an oxygen atom connected to two alkyl or aryl groups. They have the general formula , where R and R′ represent the alkyl or aryl groups. Ethers can again be ...

linkages. It can be prepared by treatment of cellulose with dimethyl sulfate and

ethyl chloride Chloroethane, commonly known as ethyl chloride, is a chemical compound with chemical formula CH3CH2Cl, once widely used in producing tetraethyllead, a gasoline additive. It is a colorless, flammable gas or refrigerated liquid with a faintly sweet ...

in the presence of an alkali.

References

Cellulose Food additives Cellulose ethers {{polymer-stub

See also

References