EPR spectra of gamma-irradiated DL-alpha-alanine supported on molecular sieves

The aim of the work was to collect information concerning boundary effects which are suspected in alpha-alanine dosimeters consisted of powdered microcrystalline alpha-alanine and binders. In our experiments the conventional binders were replaced by molecular sieves (MS). MS are inorganic porous materials (host structures) with well organized and uniform intra-crystalline pore systems of nano-scale size. The guest molecules can be either physically adsorbed on very large inner MS surface, or chemically bound to the active sites. They can be also encapsulated inside the intracrystalline cavities. The EPR spectra of gamma irradiated DL-alpha-alanine supported on NaY, CeY, SOD, mordenite, ZSM-5 and ALPO(4)-5 were very similar to that one observed for irradiated microcrystalline DL-alpha-alanine. In the case of alanine supported on HY an initial EPR spectrum was different and only after some weeks it made resemble to the well known quintet observed in microcrystalline samples. In sodalites synthesized in the presence of DL-alpha-alanine EPR signal appeared in non-irradiated sample was very low and structureless. The irradiated sample showed a distinct spectrum which was quite different from that one observed for crystalline DL-alpha-alanine.