Anomalous ice nucleation behavior in aqueous polyvinyl alcohol solutions

Ogawa, Shigesaburo; Koga, Maito; Osanai, Shuichi

doi:10.1016/j.cplett.2009.08.046

Cited by 26 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Apart from the fungal and birch pollen INMs investigated in our groups, we added BINM data from Govindarajan and Lindow (1988a), who indicated the good agreement between aggregate size and critical ice embryo size. INA data of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) were incorporated since it also showed a slight INA in experiments (Ogawa et al, 2009). Its peculiarities are first that the formula is quite simple for a macromolecule, which is a sequence of CH 2 CHOH units, and second, that the chain is rather randomly coiled.…”

Section: Comparison With Theoretical Calculations Of the Critical Icementioning

confidence: 99%

Ice nucleation by water-soluble macromolecules

et al. 2015

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Cloud glaciation is critically important for the global radiation budget (albedo) and for initiation of precipitation. But the freezing of pure water droplets requires cooling to temperatures as low as 235 K. Freezing at higher temperatures requires the presence of an ice nucleator, which serves as a template for arranging water molecules in an ice-like manner. It is often assumed that these ice nucleators have to be insoluble particles. We point out that also free macromolecules which are dissolved in water can efficiently induce ice nucleation: the size of such ice nucleating macromolecules (INMs) is in the range of nanometers, corresponding to the size of the critical ice embryo. As the latter is temperature-dependent, we see a correlation between the size of INMs and the ice nucleation temperature as predicted by classical nucleation theory. Different types of INMs have been found in a wide range of biological species and comprise a variety of chemical structures including proteins, saccharides, and lipids. Our investigation of the fungal species Acremonium implicatum, Isaria farinosa, and Mortierella alpina shows that their ice nucleation activity is caused by proteinaceous water-soluble INMs. We combine these new results and literature data on INMs from fungi, bacteria, and pollen with theoretical calculations to develop a chemical in-terpretation of ice nucleation and water-soluble INMs. This has atmospheric implications since many of these INMs can be released by fragmentation of the carrier cell and subsequently may be distributed independently. Up to now, this process has not been accounted for in atmospheric models

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Section: Comparison With Theoretical Calculations Of the Critical Icementioning

confidence: 99%

Ice nucleation by water-soluble macromolecules

et al. 2015

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Section: Comparison With Theoretical Calculations Of the Critical Icementioning

confidence: 99%

Ice nucleation by water-soluble macromolecules

Pummer¹,

Budke²,

Augustin-Bauditz³

et al. 2014

Preprint

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Abstract. Cloud glaciation is critically important for the global radiation budget (albedo) and for initiation of precipitation. But the freezing of pure water droplets requires cooling to temperatures as low as 235 K. Freezing at higher temperatures requires the presence of an ice nucleator, which is a foreign body in the water that functions as a template for arranging water molecules in an ice-like manner. It is often assumed that these ice nucleators have to be insoluble particles. We put in perspective that also dissolved single macromolecules can induce ice nucleation: they are several nanometers in size, which is also the size range of the necessary critical cluster. As the critical cluster size is temperature-dependent, we see a correlation between the size of such ice nucleating macromolecules and the ice nucleation temperature. Such ice nucleating macromolecules have been already found in many different biological species and are as manifold in their chemistry. Therefore, we additionally compare them to each other, based on a composition of former, recent and yet unpublished studies. Combining these data with calculations from Classical Nucleation Theory, we want to foster a more molecular view of ice nucleation among scientists.

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“… 16 Conversely, studies using commercial PVA (with no additional purification) at relatively high concentrations result in nucleation promotion rather than inhibition, showing the complexity of this process. 36 , 37 …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Probing the Biomimetic Ice Nucleation Inhibition Activity of Poly(vinyl alcohol) and Comparison to Synthetic and Biological Polymers

et al. 2015

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Nature has evolved many elegant solutions to enable life to flourish at low temperatures by either allowing (tolerance) or preventing (avoidance) ice formation. These processes are typically controlled by ice nucleating proteins or antifreeze proteins, which act to either promote nucleation, prevent nucleation or inhibit ice growth depending on the specific need, respectively. These proteins can be expensive and their mechanisms of action are not understood, limiting their translation, especially into biomedical cryopreservation applications. Here well-defined poly(vinyl alcohol), synthesized by RAFT/MADIX polymerization, is investigated for its ice nucleation inhibition (INI) activity, in contrast to its established ice growth inhibitory properties and compared to other synthetic polymers. It is shown that ice nucleation inhibition activity of PVA has a strong molecular weight dependence; polymers with a degree of polymerization below 200 being an effective inhibitor at just 1 mg.mL–1. Other synthetic and natural polymers, both with and without hydroxyl-functional side chains, showed negligible activity, highlighting the unique ice/water interacting properties of PVA. These findings both aid our understanding of ice nucleation but demonstrate the potential of engineering synthetic polymers as new biomimetics to control ice formation/growth processes

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Anomalous ice nucleation behavior in aqueous polyvinyl alcohol solutions

Cited by 26 publications

References 32 publications

Ice nucleation by water-soluble macromolecules

Ice nucleation by water-soluble macromolecules

Ice nucleation by water-soluble macromolecules

Probing the Biomimetic Ice Nucleation Inhibition Activity of Poly(vinyl alcohol) and Comparison to Synthetic and Biological Polymers

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