Quantifying the liquid-liquid transition in cold water/glycerol mixtures by ih-RIDME

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Kuzin, Sergei, Yulikov, Maxim
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Kuzin, Sergei
Yulikov, Maxim
author_facet Kuzin, Sergei
Yulikov, Maxim
contents Water/glycerol mixtures are common for experiments with biomacromolecules at cryogenic temperatures due to their vitrification properties. Above the glass transition temperature, they undergo liquid-liquid phase separation. Using the novel EPR technique called intermolecular hyperfine Relaxation-Induced Dipolar Modulation Enhancement (ih-RIDME), we quantified the molar composition in frozen water/glycerol mixtures with one or the other component deuterated after the phase transition. Our experiments reveal nearly equal phase composition regardless of the proton/deuterium isotope balance. With the new ih-RIDME data, we can also revisit the already reported body of glass transition data for such mixtures and build a consistent picture for water/glycerol freezing and phase transitions. Our results also indicate that ih-RIDME has the potential for investigating the solvation shells of spin-labelled macromolecules.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_08633
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Quantifying the liquid-liquid transition in cold water/glycerol mixtures by ih-RIDME
Kuzin, Sergei
Yulikov, Maxim
Soft Condensed Matter
Chemical Physics
Biomolecules
Water/glycerol mixtures are common for experiments with biomacromolecules at cryogenic temperatures due to their vitrification properties. Above the glass transition temperature, they undergo liquid-liquid phase separation. Using the novel EPR technique called intermolecular hyperfine Relaxation-Induced Dipolar Modulation Enhancement (ih-RIDME), we quantified the molar composition in frozen water/glycerol mixtures with one or the other component deuterated after the phase transition. Our experiments reveal nearly equal phase composition regardless of the proton/deuterium isotope balance. With the new ih-RIDME data, we can also revisit the already reported body of glass transition data for such mixtures and build a consistent picture for water/glycerol freezing and phase transitions. Our results also indicate that ih-RIDME has the potential for investigating the solvation shells of spin-labelled macromolecules.
title Quantifying the liquid-liquid transition in cold water/glycerol mixtures by ih-RIDME
topic Soft Condensed Matter
Chemical Physics
Biomolecules
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.08633