Temperature dependence of mean square displacement by IN13: a comparison between trehalose and sucrose water mixtures

An analysis in terms of elastic scans of the neutron intensity in mixtures of homologues disaccharides (i.e., trehalose and sucrose)/D2O as a function of temperature has been carried out. The study provides an effective way for characterizing the dynamical behavior, furnishing a set of parameters characterizing the "flexibility" and the "rigidity" that justifies the better cryptobiotic effect of trehalose in respect to sucrose. Elastic scans make evident a non-Gaussian behavior of the intensity profiles which is more marked for sucrose, with a dynamical transition at and for trehalose/D2O and sucrose/D2O mixtures, respectively.