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Probing the biomimetic ice nucleation inhibition activity of poly(vinyl alcohol) and comparison to synthetic and biological polymers
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Congdon, Thomas R., Dean, Bethany T., Kasperczak-Wright, James, Biggs, Caroline I., Notman, Rebecca and Gibson, Matthew I. (2015) Probing the biomimetic ice nucleation inhibition activity of poly(vinyl alcohol) and comparison to synthetic and biological polymers. Biomacromolecules, 16 (9). pp. 2820-2826. 150810155641002. doi:10.1021/acs.biomac.5b00774 ISSN 1525-7797.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.biomac.5b00774
Abstract
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), synthesised 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 polymerisation 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
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||
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Subjects: | Q Science > QD Chemistry Q Science > QR Microbiology |
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Divisions: | Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Science > Chemistry | ||||||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Antifreeze proteins, Polyvinyl alcohol | ||||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Biomacromolecules | ||||||||
Publisher: | American Chemical Society | ||||||||
ISSN: | 1525-7797 | ||||||||
Official Date: | 14 September 2015 | ||||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 16 | ||||||||
Number: | 9 | ||||||||
Number of Pages: | 6 | ||||||||
Page Range: | pp. 2820-2826 | ||||||||
Article Number: | 150810155641002 | ||||||||
DOI: | 10.1021/acs.biomac.5b00774 | ||||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Open Access (Creative Commons) | ||||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 14 January 2016 | ||||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 14 January 2016 | ||||||||
Funder: | Leverhulme Trust (LT), University of Warwick, Royal Society (Great Britain), Advantage West Midlands (AWM), European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (Great Britain) (BBSRC), European Research Council (ERC) | ||||||||
Grant number: | RPG-144 (LT), CRYOMAT 638661 (ERC) |
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