Radiation, ionizing, chemical effects

Lind (1961) defines radiation chemistry as the science of the chemical effects brought about by the absorption of ionizing radiation in matter. It can be said that in 1895, along with X-rays, Roentgen also discovered the chemical action of ionizing radiation. He drew attention to the similarity of the chemical effects induced by visible light and X-rays on the silver salt of the photographic plate. This was quickly followed by the discovery of radioactivity of uranium by Becquerel in 1896. In 1898, the Curies discovered two more radioactive elements—polonium and radium. 

About 1910, M. Curie suggested that ions were responsible for the chemical effects of radioactive radiations. Soon thereafter, mainly due to the pioneering work of Lind on gases, the notation M/N was introduced for a quantitative measure of the radiation effect, where N is the number of ion pairs formed and M is the number of molecules transformed—either created or destroyed. This notation, referred to as the ion pair yield, was most conveniently employed in gases where N is a measurable quantity. However, for some time the same usage was extended to condensed systems assuming that ionization did not depend on the phase. This, however, is not necessarily correct. The notation G was introduced by Burton (1947) and others to denote the number of species produced or destroyed per 100 eV absorption of ionizing radiation. In this sense, it is defined... 

Most radiation-chemical reactions are thermal in nature those considered in the diffusion-kinetic scheme are essentially thermal reactions (see Chapter 7). In polar media, electron thermalization is presumed to occur before solvation (Mozumder, 1988). However, ionization processes usually involve transfer of energy in excess of the ionization potential (see Chapter 4). Therefore, mechanisms of thermalization are important for radiation-chemical effects. 

Radioactive sources and particle accelerators are used to initiate polymerizations. Electrons, neutrons, and a-particles (He2+) are particulate radiations, while gamma and X rays are electromagnetic radiations. The interactions of these radiations with matter are complex [Chapiro, 1962 Wilson, 1974]. The chemical effects of the different types of radiation are qualitatively the same, although there are quantitative differences. Molecular excitation may occur with the subsequent formation of radicals in the same manner as in photolysis, but ionization of a compound C by ejection of an electron is more probable because of the higher... 

Lind [2] has defined radiation chemistry as the science of the chemical effects brought about by the absorption of ionizing radiation in matter. It should be distinguished from radiation damage which refers to structural transformation induced by irradiation, particularly in the solid state. The distinction is not always maintained, perhaps unconsciously, and sometimes both effects may be present simultaneously. Following a suggestion of M. Curie around 1910, that ions were responsible for the chemical effects of radioactive radiations, the symbol MjN was introduced to quantify the radiation chemical effect, where M is the number of molecules transformed (created or destroyed) and N is the number of ion pairs formed. Later, Burton [3] and others advocated the notation G for the number of species produced or destroyed per 100 eV (= 1.602 x 10 J) absorption of ionizing radiation. It was purposely defined as a purely experimental quantity independent of implied mechanism or assumed theory. 

It appears that the chemical change produced by a given amount of energy degradation is far less sensitive to the rate of energy loss of the radiation in hydrocarbons than in water. While pure water behaves very differently when irradiated with radiations of differing ionization densities, the chemical effects in hydrocarbons appear to be quite insensitive... 

As in the case of fast electrons, the main contribution to energy losses of heavy charged particles (ions) comes from ionization losses (see Section V), which are responsible for most of the radiation-chemical effects. Therefore, we consider here only the structure of that part of an ion s track where the ionization losses are dominating. The role of elastic interaction between ions and atoms of the medium, which becomes essential only at the end of the ion s track, is not considered in this section. 

Hems G (1960) Chemical effects of ionizing radiation on deoxyribonucleic acid in dilute aqueous solution. Nature (London) 186 710-712... 

Very primary events in the chemical effect of radiations on matter are excitation and ionization of molecules, which result in the formation of neutral free radicals and radical ions. These reactive species play vital roles in the radiation-induced chemical reactions. As they are paramagnetic with an unpaired electron, electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy has been a useful method for elucidating the mechanism of radiation-induced reactions in solid matter where radical species can be trapped temporarily. Since the early days of the chemical application of ESR, this method has been applied very often to the identification and quantification of free radicals in polymers irradiated by radiation [1]. This is probably because, from the view-point of fundamental research, a variety of free radicals are readily trapped in solid polymers and, from the view-point of applied research, these free radicals have close correlation with radiation-induced crosslinking and degradation of polymers. 

---