Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 13, 2025
09:50
Measuring the Densities of Aqueous Glasses at Cryogenic Temperatures
Published on: June 28, 2017
8.8K
How Solvation Structures Define the Cryoprotection Efficiency of Ethylene Glycol.
Sudeshna Samanta1, Subrata Dev2, Dimple1
1Department of Physics, Gandhi Institute of Technology and Management (GITAM), Bengaluru, Karnataka, 561203, India.
Chemistry, an Asian Journal
|July 28, 2025
Summary
Ethylene glycol (EG) modifies water's hydrogen bonds, creating optimal antifreeze properties at intermediate concentrations. This structural tuning of water by EG is key to efficient cryopreservation.
Area of Science:
- Physical Chemistry
- Biophysics
- Materials Science
Background:
- Cryopreservation relies on antifreeze agents to prevent cellular damage.
- Understanding the molecular interactions of antifreeze solutions is vital for improving cryoprotective efficacy.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the hydrogen bond (HB) configurations in aqueous ethylene glycol (EG) solutions.
- To correlate these structural changes with cryoprotective properties.
Main Methods:
- Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy.
- Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations.
- Analysis of hydrogen bond populations and tetrahedral order parameters (TOP).
Main Results:
- Ethylene glycol (EG) integrates into water's hydrogen bond (HB) network, altering water structure.
- A mixed HB configuration at intermediate EG concentrations (XEG ≈ 0.3-0.6) balances EG-water and water-water interactions, correlating with optimal cryoprotection.
- High EG concentrations lead to EG self-association and reduced water HB connectivity, hindering cryoprotection.
- EG disrupts water's tetrahedral HB framework, delaying ice nucleation.
Conclusions:
- A direct correlation exists between local solvation structures and cryoprotective efficiency.
- Mixed hydrogen bond environments are crucial for tuning antifreeze functionality.
- Molecular insights into EG-water interactions can guide the development of advanced cryopreservation strategies.
Related Concept Videos
03:12Freezing Point Depression and Boiling Point Elevation
35.8K
Boiling Point Elevation
The boiling point of a liquid is the temperature at which its vapor pressure is equal to ambient atmospheric pressure. Since the vapor pressure of a solution is lowered due to the presence of nonvolatile solutes, it stands to reason that the solution’s boiling point will subsequently be increased. Vapor pressure increases with temperature, and so a solution will require a higher temperature than will pure solvent to achieve any given vapor pressure, including one...
The boiling point of a liquid is the temperature at which its vapor pressure is equal to ambient atmospheric pressure. Since the vapor pressure of a solution is lowered due to the presence of nonvolatile solutes, it stands to reason that the solution’s boiling point will subsequently be increased. Vapor pressure increases with temperature, and so a solution will require a higher temperature than will pure solvent to achieve any given vapor pressure, including one...
35.8K
01:28Cryo-electron Microscopy
3.6K
Conventional electron microscopy (EM) involves dehydration, fixation, and staining of biological samples, which distorts the native state of biological molecules and results in several artifacts. Also, the high-energy electron beam damages the sample and makes it difficult to obtain high-resolution images. These issues can be addressed using cryo-EM, which uses frozen samples and gentler electron beams. The technique was developed by Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank, and Richard Henderson, for...
3.6K
02:12Solvating Effects
7.8K
An understanding of the solvating effect helps rationalize the relation between solvation and acidity of the compound. In addition, this also explains the relative stability of conjugate bases for compounds with different pKa values. This lesson details, in-depth, the principle of solvating effects. The strength of an acid and the stability of its corresponding conjugate base are determined using pKa values. This observed relationship is a consequence of solvation, which is the interaction...
7.8K
02:05Entropy and Solvation
7.2K
The process of surrounding a solute with solvent is called solvation. It involves evenly distributing the solute within the solvent. The rule of thumb for determining a solvent for a given compound is that like dissolves like. A good solvent has molecular characteristics similar to those of the compound to be dissolved. For example, polar solutions dissolve polar solutes, and apolar solvents dissolve apolar solutes. A polar solvent is a solvent that has a high dielectric constant (ϵ...
7.2K
02:42Aqueous Solutions and Heats of Hydration
15.0K
Water and other polar molecules are attracted to ions. The electrostatic attraction between an ion and a molecule with a dipole is called an ion-dipole attraction. These attractions play an important role in the dissolution of ionic compounds in water.
When ionic compounds dissolve in water, the ions in the solid separate and disperse uniformly throughout the solution because water molecules surround and solvate the ions, reducing the strong electrostatic forces between them. This process...
When ionic compounds dissolve in water, the ions in the solid separate and disperse uniformly throughout the solution because water molecules surround and solvate the ions, reducing the strong electrostatic forces between them. This process...
15.0K
01:10Recrystallization: Solid–Solution Equilibria
1.2K
Recrystallization is a purification technique used to separate impurities from solid compounds. In this technique, no chemical reactions occur. Instead, it exploits physical properties only, specifically, the solubility differences between the desired compound and impurities, either at a single temperature or at different temperatures, and under other selected conditions. The solid-solution equilibrium (solubility equilibrium) of each component in the solution represents a binary phase...
1.2K