Supercooling behavior of aqueous solutions of alcohols and saccharides

Homogeneous ice nucleation temperatures (THs) 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 TH 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 TH difference.