Up to 4 orders of magnitude enhancement of crown ether complexation in an aqueous phase coexistent with ice.

Ice chromatography measurements have revealed anomalous enhancements of crown ether complexation in a liquid phase coexistent with ice. The 4 orders of magnitude enhancement was confirmed for the complexation of dibenzo-24-crown-8 in sub-μm-sized liquid inclusions formed in ice doped with <1 mM NaCl or KCl. This enhancement became less pronounced with increasing dopant concentration.