A Radio-Fluorogenic Polymer-Gel Makes Fixed Fluorescent Images of Complex Radiation Fields

A Radio-Fluorogenic Polymer-Gel Makes Fixed Fluorescent Images of Complex Radiation Fields

Warman, J.M. (TU Delft RST/Applied Radiation & Isotopes)
de Haas, M.P. (TU Delft RST/Applied Radiation & Isotopes)
Luthjens, L.H. (TU Delft RST/Applied Radiation & Isotopes)
Denkova, A.G. (TU Delft RST/Applied Radiation & Isotopes)
Yao, T. (TU Delft RST/Applied Radiation & Isotopes)

2018-06-20

We review the development and application of an organic polymer-gel capable of producing fixed, three-dimensional fluorescent images of complex radiation fields. The gel consists for more than 99% of γ-ray-polymerized (~15% conversion) tertiary-butyl acrylate (TBA) containing ~100 ppm of a fluorogenic compound, e.g., maleimido-pyrene (MPy). The radio-fluorogenic effect depends on copolymerization of the MPy into growing chains of TBA on radiation-induced polymerization. This converts the maleimido residue, which quenches the pyrene fluorescence, into a succinimido moeity (SPy), which does not. The intensity of the fluorescence is proportional to the yield of free-radicals formed and hence to the local dose deposited. Because the SPy moieties are built into the polymer network, the image is fixed. The method of preparing the gel and imaging the radiation-induced fluorescence are presented and discussed. The effect is illustrated with fluorescent images of the energy deposited in the gel by beams of X-rays, electrons, and protons as well as a radioactive isotope

3D dose imaging
radio-fluorogenic gel
polymer gel dosimetry
radio-fluorogenic co-polymerization
tertiary-butyl acrylate gel
proton beam imaging
OA-Fund TU Delft

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:81bde313-35f8-4e70-8617-13f8eb85ee02

https://doi.org/10.3390/polym10060685

2073-4360

Polymers, 10 (6)

Institutional Repository

journal article

© 2018 J.M. Warman, M.P. de Haas, L.H. Luthjens, A.G. Denkova, T. Yao