The chemical effects of high energy radiations, such as those emitted by radioactive substances, generated by high-energy machines and nuclear reactors, concern a branch of chemistry called Radiation Chemistry. This term was proposed by Milton Burton in 1942 for the needs of the Manhattan Project, the secret atomic energy research program carried out in the United States during the Second World War. It is interesting to notice, however, that the first radiation-chemical change was observed as early as 1895 by Röntgen when he established the existence of a penetrating, invisible radiation – X rays – able to fog a photographic plate. Indeed, as Burton wrote (C&EN, 1969, Feb. 10, 86): In May 1942, the title Radiation Chemistry did not exist … I sought an appropriate name for an area that we quickly realized has existed for 47 years without any name at all. The name Radiation Chemistry came out of the hopper; I didn’t like it; I asked Robert Mulliken advice. He couldn’t think of anything better and, with that negative endorsement, the old field received its present name. Since that time, radiation chemistry has developed at an incredible rate. For at least 30 years, the interest focused on basic research, exploiting steady state and time resolved techniques, in the field not only of chemistry, but also physics and biology. These studies, reported in a large number of papers and books, enabled to understand the mechanisms of a wide variety of radiolytically induced reactions, and to collect kinetic data and absorption spectra of the unstable species formed by the interaction of high energy radiations with very different systems, as far as chemical composition and aggregation state are concerned. Very soon, however, it was realized that the chemical changes induced by such kind of radiations in substrates of various nature could profitably be used from the applicative point of view. The first applications were in medicine for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes, but a variety of interesting industrial applications rapidly emerged, such as sterilization of different materials and polymer preparation, modification and degradation. The applicative aspect of radiation chemistry strongly expanded, taking also advantage of the great amount of results provided by basic studies, so as today high energy radiations are employed with various aims in several other fields like environment, biotechnology, cultural heritage and food treatment. These spectacular advances are illustrated in the present volume of the Topics in Current Chemistry series that collects contributions from the most prominent expert groups. It indeed reports the outstanding developments in the industrial, biotechnological and environmental fields facing several recent and interesting topics. They are (a) radiation induced degradation of organic pollutants in waters and wastewaters, (b) advantages of radiation technology for upgrading and refining high viscous oils and petroleum products, (c) use of gamma radiations for treating cultural heritage, (d) application of radiation chemistry to solve some technological issues related to nuclear energy, (e) radiation induced grafting for the functionalization and development of smart polymeric materials, (f) radiation engineering of multifunctional nanogels, (g) chitosan-based matrices prepared by gamma irradiation for tissue regeneration, (h) electron beam technology for environmental pollution control, (i) radiation technology applications in the food industry, and (j) application of radiation sources and accelerators in the field of space research and industry. We believe that this volume represents a good opportunity not only to make known to non-experts the research activities carried out by exploiting the peculiar features of the high-energy radiation, but also to stimulate the interest of a wide range of readers for this quite new field. Finally, we would like to express our gratitude to the colleagues who committed to contribute high-quality chapters, and to the editorial staff at Springer for their support throughout the development of this volume. Margherita Venturi (University of Bologna) Mila D’Angelantonio (ISOF-CNR Bologna)

Margherita Venturi (2017). Applications of radiation chemistry in the fields of industry, biotecnology and environment. Cham : Springer [10.1007/978-3-319-54145-7].

Applications of radiation chemistry in the fields of industry, biotecnology and environment

Margherita Venturi
2017

Abstract

The chemical effects of high energy radiations, such as those emitted by radioactive substances, generated by high-energy machines and nuclear reactors, concern a branch of chemistry called Radiation Chemistry. This term was proposed by Milton Burton in 1942 for the needs of the Manhattan Project, the secret atomic energy research program carried out in the United States during the Second World War. It is interesting to notice, however, that the first radiation-chemical change was observed as early as 1895 by Röntgen when he established the existence of a penetrating, invisible radiation – X rays – able to fog a photographic plate. Indeed, as Burton wrote (C&EN, 1969, Feb. 10, 86): In May 1942, the title Radiation Chemistry did not exist … I sought an appropriate name for an area that we quickly realized has existed for 47 years without any name at all. The name Radiation Chemistry came out of the hopper; I didn’t like it; I asked Robert Mulliken advice. He couldn’t think of anything better and, with that negative endorsement, the old field received its present name. Since that time, radiation chemistry has developed at an incredible rate. For at least 30 years, the interest focused on basic research, exploiting steady state and time resolved techniques, in the field not only of chemistry, but also physics and biology. These studies, reported in a large number of papers and books, enabled to understand the mechanisms of a wide variety of radiolytically induced reactions, and to collect kinetic data and absorption spectra of the unstable species formed by the interaction of high energy radiations with very different systems, as far as chemical composition and aggregation state are concerned. Very soon, however, it was realized that the chemical changes induced by such kind of radiations in substrates of various nature could profitably be used from the applicative point of view. The first applications were in medicine for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes, but a variety of interesting industrial applications rapidly emerged, such as sterilization of different materials and polymer preparation, modification and degradation. The applicative aspect of radiation chemistry strongly expanded, taking also advantage of the great amount of results provided by basic studies, so as today high energy radiations are employed with various aims in several other fields like environment, biotechnology, cultural heritage and food treatment. These spectacular advances are illustrated in the present volume of the Topics in Current Chemistry series that collects contributions from the most prominent expert groups. It indeed reports the outstanding developments in the industrial, biotechnological and environmental fields facing several recent and interesting topics. They are (a) radiation induced degradation of organic pollutants in waters and wastewaters, (b) advantages of radiation technology for upgrading and refining high viscous oils and petroleum products, (c) use of gamma radiations for treating cultural heritage, (d) application of radiation chemistry to solve some technological issues related to nuclear energy, (e) radiation induced grafting for the functionalization and development of smart polymeric materials, (f) radiation engineering of multifunctional nanogels, (g) chitosan-based matrices prepared by gamma irradiation for tissue regeneration, (h) electron beam technology for environmental pollution control, (i) radiation technology applications in the food industry, and (j) application of radiation sources and accelerators in the field of space research and industry. We believe that this volume represents a good opportunity not only to make known to non-experts the research activities carried out by exploiting the peculiar features of the high-energy radiation, but also to stimulate the interest of a wide range of readers for this quite new field. Finally, we would like to express our gratitude to the colleagues who committed to contribute high-quality chapters, and to the editorial staff at Springer for their support throughout the development of this volume. Margherita Venturi (University of Bologna) Mila D’Angelantonio (ISOF-CNR Bologna)
2017
297
978-3-319-54144-0
Margherita Venturi (2017). Applications of radiation chemistry in the fields of industry, biotecnology and environment. Cham : Springer [10.1007/978-3-319-54145-7].
Margherita Venturi
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11585/636628
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