A study of effective atomic numbers and electron densities of some vitamins for electron, H, He and C ion interactions

Abstract

The radiological properties of some vitamins such as Retinol, Beta-carotene, Riboflavin, Niacin, Niacinamide, Pantothenic acid, Pyridoxine, Pyridoxamine, Pyridoxal, Biotin, Folic acid, Ascorbic acid, Cholecalciferol, Alpha-tocopherol, Gamma-tocopherol, Phylloquinone have been investigated with respect to total electron interaction and some heavy charged particle interaction as means of effective atomic numbers ( $Z_{eff}$ ) and electron densities ( $N_{eff}$ ) for the first time. Calculations were performed for total electron interaction and heavy ions such as H, He and C ion interactions in the energy region 10keV-10MeV by using a logarithmic interpolation method. Variations in $ Z_{eff}$ ’s and $ N_{eff}$ ’s of given vitamins have been studied according to the energy of electron or heavy charged particles, and significant variations have been observed for all types of interaction in the given energy region. The maximum values of $ Z_{eff}$ have been found in the different energy regions for different interactions remarkably and variations in $ N_{eff}$ seem approximately to be the same with variation in $ Z_{eff}$ for the given vitamins as expected. $ Z_{eff}$ values of some vitamins were plotted together and compared with each other for electron, H, He and C interactions and the ratios of $ Z_{eff}/ \langle A \rangle$ have been changed in the range of 0.25-0.36, 0.20-0.36, 0.22-0.35 and 0.20-0.35 for electron, H, He and C interactions, respectively.