Effect of radiation on solid paracetamol: ESR identification and dosimetric features of γ -irradiated paracetamol

Abstract

In the present work, electron spin resonance (ESR) identification of γ-irradiated paracetamol and its potential use as a normal and/or accidental dosimetric material were investigated in the dose range of 2.5–25 kGy. Both unirradiated paracetamol and mechanically ground vermidon samples exhibited a weak single resonance line at g = 2.0049±0.0006 and had Δ H pp = 0.6 ± 0.02 mT. Gamma irradiation produced an increase in signal intensity with a small hyperfine splitting in both paracetamol and vermidon and many weak resonance lines on both sides of a central line in the case of vermidon. Dose–response curves associated with central line of paracetamol and vermidon were found to follow polynomial and linear function, respectively. Simulation calculations based on the room temperature ESR intensity data of the paracetamol sample irradiated at 10 kGy were performed to determine the structure and spectral parameters of the radiation-induced radical species involved in the formation of the experimental ESR spectrum of paracetamol.