(261d) Hydrogen Bonding in Poly(vinyl alcohol) and Its Effects on Ice Recrystallization Inhibition.

Hydrogen Bonding in Poly(vinyl alcohol) and its effects on Ice Recrystallization Inhibition.Ice recrystallization is a phenomena observed where the average size of crystallites increases over time within a frozen material. This behavior is especially detrimental to post-thaw recovery of cryopreserved materials, resulting in degraded cell viability and function. Antifreeze proteins are powerful ice recrystallization inhibiting (IRI) agents capable of arresting ice crystal growth, but their complex structure limits the scalability of production and commercial use.Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) is a common synthetic polymer widely used and produced in industry which has shown remarkable IRI activity at low concentrations. In this study we probe the impact of hydrogen bonding strength on IRI activity of PVA by introducing electron withdrawing or donating groups on the alpha carbon of the PVA-hydroxyl by radical copolymerization of vinyl acetate and substituted vinyl acetate monomers. We found that electronic effects have a significant impact on IRI ability of PVA in cryomicroscopy assays of ice growth at varying polymer concentrations. FTIR confirms electron withdrawing group effects on hydrogen bonding strength, highlighting the role of hydrogen bonding strength in IRI activity. Reactivity ratios and material characterization of each new copolymer also provides insight into the polymer composition-IRI relationship establishing a foundation for improved PVA based IRI materials.