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

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Cited articles

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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.
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