Winter storms cause millions of dollars of damage to power lines and other materials each year because of the accumulation of ice. Mealworms contain a specific protein that has antifreeze properties to protect them from the cold. We hypothesize that a synthetic organic compound can be used to prevent frost buildup and exhibit antifreeze properties similar to the mealworm protein. Our overall goal is to mimic the mealworm protein's surface functional groups to create an antifreeze coating of our own that can be attached to glass and other materials to protect against frost. Our initial task has been to synthesize some of these compounds off of glass microscope slides and describe how they behave under frosting conditions.

Functional characterization of synthetic antifreeze coatings

246th National Meeting (2013)

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