Interplay of vitrification and ice formation in a cryoprotectant aqueous solution at low temperature.

ABSTRACT: The proneness of water to crystallize is a major obstacle to understanding its putative exotic behavior in the supercooled state. It also represents a strong practical limitation to cryopreservation of biological systems. Adding some concentration of glycerol, which has a cryoprotective effect preventing, to some degree, water crystallization, has been proposed as a possible way out, provided the concentration is small enough for water to retain some of its bulk character and/or for limiting the damage caused by glycerol on living organisms. Contrary to previous expectations, we show that, in the “marginal” glycerol molar concentration ≈ 18%, at which vitrification is possible with no crystallization on rapid cooling, water crystallizes upon isothermal annealing even below the calorimetric

SUBMITTER: Alba-Simionesco C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8944663 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature