Vibrational properties of bioprotectant mixtures of trehalose and glycerol.

In this work vibrational spectra of mixtures of two glass-forming bioprotectant systems, i.e., trehalose and glycerol, are collected at very low temperature by using the indirect geometry time-of-flight (t.o.f.) TOSCA spectrometer at the ISIS Pulse Neutron Facility (Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Oxford, U.K.). The main aim of this work is to investigate, through inelastic neutron scattering (INS), the vibrational behavior of trehalose and its mixtures with glycerol at different concentration values in order to characterize the changes induced by glycerol on the trehalose hydrogen bonded network. The obtained experimental findings, which are discussed and interpreted in the framework of previous INS, quasi elastic neutron scattering (QENS) and molecular simulation data obtained on trehalose/glycerol mixtures at different concentration and temperature values, will be linked to the different mixtures bioprotectant effectiveness.