Articles | Volume 25, issue 12
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-6179-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-6179-2025
Research article
 | 
25 Jun 2025
Research article |  | 25 Jun 2025

The role of surface-active macromolecules in the ice-nucleating ability of lignin, Snomax, and agricultural soil extracts

Kathleen A. Alden, Paul Bieber, Anna J. Miller, Nicole Link, Benjamin J. Murray, and Nadine Borduas-Dedekind

Related authors

Challenges in measuring sticky biogenic ice-nucleating macromolecules
Joseph Robinson, Martin I. Daily, Polly B. Foster, Jack P. Macklin, James B. McQuaid, Mark D. Tarn, and Benjamin J. Murray
Aerosol Research, 4, 373–396, https://doi.org/10.5194/ar-4-373-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/ar-4-373-2026, 2026
Short summary
GloPINE dataset: model-ready measurements of INP concentrations using PINE instruments
Ross J. Herbert, Larissa Lacher, Alexander Böhmländer, Mark D. Tarn, Antoine Canzi, Aidan Pantoya, Evelyn Freney, Kristina Höhler, Pia Bogert, Céline Planche, Ping Tian, Michael Adams, Sarah Barr, David Brus, Nicole Büttner, Martin Daily, Konstantinos Doulgeris, Konstantinos Eleftheriadis, Grant Forster, Romy Fösig, Dimitrios G. Georgakopoulos, Maria I. Gini, A. Gannet Hallar, Radovan Krejci, Elke Ludewig, Mauro Mazzola, Ian B. McCubbin, Athanasios Nenes, Tuukka Petäjä, Joseph Robinson, Franziska Vogel, Paul Zieger, Stephen Arnold, Kenneth S. Carslaw, Naruki Hiranuma, Ottmar Möhler, and Benjamin J. Murray
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 18, 6465–6483, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-6465-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-6465-2026, 2026
Short summary
Chromophores and chemical compositions of brown carbon aerosol before and after photooxidation of combustion emissions
Feng Jiang, Jun Zhang, David M. Bell, Kun Li, Nadine Borduas-Dedekind, Andre S. H. Prevot, Hongbiao Cui, Harald Saathoff, and Thomas Leisner
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 26, 11733–11746, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-11733-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-11733-2026, 2026
Short summary
Automated analysis and quality assurance of ice-nucleating particle data: the PINE INP Analysis software PIA
Nicole Büttner, Romy Fösig, Alexander Böhmländer, Larissa Lacher, Franziska Vogel, Mark Tarn, Pia Bogert, Jens Nadolny, Benjamin Murray, and Ottmar Möhler
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 19, 5007–5026, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-19-5007-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-19-5007-2026, 2026
Short summary
Measuring molecular singlet oxygen (1O2*) from atmospheric photosensitizers: Intercomparison of techniques, irradiation setups, data analysis and protocol recommendations
Keighan J. Gemmell, Laura Marie Dahler Heinlein, Emma A. Petersen-Sonn, Claudia Sardena, Zhongyu Guo, Nory Mariño-Ocampo, Belinda Heyne, Christian George, Cort Anastasio, and Nadine Borduas-Dedekind
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 19, 3961–3982, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-19-3961-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-19-3961-2026, 2026
Short summary

Cited articles

Aguiar, J., Carpena, P., Molina-Bolı́var, J., and Carnero Ruiz, C.: On the determination of the critical micelle concentration by the pyrene 1:3 ratio method, J. Colloid Interf. Sci., 258, 116–122, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0021-9797(02)00082-6, 2003. a, b
Alden, K. A., Bieber, P., Miller, A. J., Link, N., Murray, B. J., and Borduas-Dedekind, N.: Dataset for “The role of surface-active macromolecules in the ice nucleating ability of lignin, Snomax, and agricultural soil extracts”, University of Leeds [data set], https://doi.org/10.5518/1575, 2025. a
Alsante, A. N., Thornton, D. C. O., and Brooks, S. D.: Ice nucleation catalyzed by the photosynthesis enzyme RuBisCO and other abundant biomolecules, Commun. Earth Environ., 4, 1–9, https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-00707-7, 2023. a
Axson, J. L., May, N. W., Colón-Bernal, I. D., Pratt, K. A., and Ault, A. P.: Lake Spray Aerosol: A Chemical Signature from Individual Ambient Particles, Environ. Sci. Technol., 50, 9835–9845, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.6b01661, 2016. a
Beall, C. M., Lucero, D., Hill, T. C., DeMott, P. J., Stokes, M. D., and Prather, K. A.: Best practices for precipitation sample storage for offline studies of ice nucleation in marine and coastal environments, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 6473–6486, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6473-2020, 2020. a
Download
Short summary
Lignin and Snomax are surface-active macromolecules that show a relationship between increasing concentrations, decreasing surface tension, and increasing ice-nucleating ability. However, this relationship did not hold for agricultural soil extracts collected in the UK and Canada. To explain this difference, we propose that as the complexity of the sample increases, the hydrophobic interfaces in the bulk compete with the air–water interface.
Share
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint