Supercooling behavior of aqueous solutions of alcohols and saccharides

Abstract

Homogeneous ice nucleation temperatures ( T Hs) were measured as a function of solute concentration for aqueous solutions of alcohols (methanol, ethylene glycol, glycerol and xylitol) and sugars (glucose, fructose, sucrose, maltose and trehalose). It is found that there is a linear relation between T H and the number of OH groups in an alcohol molecule. It is also found that small configurational difference of the solute molecule gives rise to little T H difference.