On the microscopic origin of the cryoprotective effect in lysine solutions

Andrés Henao; Guadalupe N. Ruiz; Nicola Steinke; Silvina Cerveny; Roberto Macovez; Elvira Guàrdia; Sebastian Busch; Sylvia E. McLain; Christian D. Lorenz; Luis Carlos Pardo

doi:10.1039/C9CP06192D

On the microscopic origin of the cryoprotective effect in lysine solutions†

Andrés Henao,

‡^ab Guadalupe N. Ruiz,

^a Nicola Steinke,^c Silvina Cerveny,^d Roberto Macovez,

^a Elvira Guàrdia,

^b Sebastian Busch,

^e Sylvia E. McLain,

^f Christian D. Lorenz

^g and Luis Carlos Pardo

*^a

Author affiliations

* Corresponding authors

^a Grup de Caracterització de Materials, Departament de Física, ETSEIB, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, C/Eduard Maristany 10, E-08019 Barcelona, Spain
E-mail: luis.carlos.pardo@upc.edu

^b Grup de Simulació per Ordinador en Matèria Condensada, Departament de Física, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, B4-B5 Campus Nord, E-08034 Barcelona, Spain

^c Center for Marine Environmental Sciences (MARUM), University of Bremen, Leobener Str., 28359 Bremen, Germany

^d Centro de Física de Materiales (CSIC-UPV/EHU)-Material Physics Centre (MPC), Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC), Paseo Manuel de Lardizabal 5, 20018 San Sebastián, Spain

^e German Engineering Materials Science Centre (GEMS) at Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Zentrum (MLZ), Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht GmbH, Lichtenbergstr. 1, 85747 Garching bei München, Germany

^f Department of Chemistry, School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, UK

^g Department of Physics, King's College London, London, UK

Abstract

The amino acid lysine has been shown to prevent water crystallization at low temperatures in saturated aqueous solutions [S. Cerveny and J. Swenson, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2014, 16, 22382–22390]. Here, we investigate two ratios of water and lysine (5.4 water molecules per lysine (saturated) and 11 water molecules per lysine) by means of the complementary use of computer simulations and neutron diffraction. By performing a detailed structural analysis we have been able to explain the anti-freeze properties of lysine by the strong hydrogen bond interactions of interstitial water molecules with lysine that prevent them from forming crystalline seeds. Additional water molecules beyond the 1 : 5.4 proportion are no longer tightly bonded to lysine and therefore are free to form crystals.

Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics

On the microscopic origin of the cryoprotective effect in lysine solutions†

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On the microscopic origin of the cryoprotective effect in lysine solutions

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