Supercooling and vitrification of aqueous glycerol solutions at normal and high pressures

Abstract

The supercooling and vitrification of aqueous glycerol solutions was studied at high pressures. Homogeneous ice nucleation temperatures (TH) were obtained for aqueous glycerol solutions of R=50, 30, 20, 12, and 10 (R: moles of water/moles of glycerol) up to 300MPa. The R=20 glycerol solution formed a glass above 200MPa at a cooling rate of 200°C/min, indicating that pressure enhances glass-formation of aqueous glycerol solutions. The (dTg/dP) values were obtained for vitrified aqueous glycerol solutions of R=3, 5, 10, and 20. These data can be used for the development of cryo-preservation liquids for living cells at high pressures.