Heavy ion radiolysis of cyclopentane

Article abstract of DOI:10.1021/j100028a033

The radiolysis of neat and iodine solutions of cyclopentane has been performed with 1-15 MeV protons, 5-20 MeV helium ions, 12-31 MeV carbon ions, and 22-32 MeV oxygen ions. The yields of the major products cyclopentene, bicyclopentyl, 1-pentene, and cyclopentyl iodide as well as the yields of a few select minor products have been determined. All products show a decrease in yield with increasing linear energy transfer (LET) of the irradiating particle. Some of these decreases are very large: for instance, the observed drop in the yield of bicyclopentyl from γ-rays (LET = 0.14 eV/nm) to oxygen ions (LET = 900 eV/nm) amounts to a net loss of about 4 cyclopentyl radicals/100 eV absorbed energy. This value is 80% of the total cyclopentyl radicals produced in γ-radiolysis. There are some indications that the yields of radicals due to decomposition of excited cyclopentane molecules are dependent on the energy and type of irradiating particle.