Nature 205, 697 (13 February 1965); doi:10.1038/205697a0

Short-lived Radicals in Irradiated Glycine

J. A. SIMMONS

Medical Research Council, Experimental Radiopathology Research Unit, Hammersmith Hospital, Ducane Road, London, W.12.

SEVERAL, investigators have used the electron spin resonance technique to measure the numbers of stable free radicals induced by ionizing radiation in amino-acids^1–4. The observation that at doses in the M.rad region the radical yield does not increase linearly with the absorbed dose but tends towards saturation was explained by Rotblat and Simmons⁴ as being due to a back reaction between stable and unstable radicals, but as their nature was still in some dispute at that time no details of the mechanism were attempted. The availability of new evidence concerning the radical species has now prompted further investigation of this problem.

1. Prydz, S. , and Henriksen, T. , Acta Chem. Scand., 15, 791 (1961). | ISI | ChemPort |
2. Randolph, M. L. , Symp. Free Radicals in Biological Systems, chapter 19 (Academic Press, 1961).
3. Kohnlein, W. , and Muller, A. , Phys. Med. Biol., 6, 599 (1962). | PubMed | ISI |
4. Rotblat, J. , and Simmons, J. A. , Phys. Med. Biol., 7, 489 (1963). | Article | PubMed | ISI | ChemPort |
5. Henriksen, T. , Rad. Res., 17, 158 (1962). | ISI | ChemPort |
6. Morton, J. R. , J. Amer. Chem. Soc., 86, 2325 (1964). | Article | ISI | ChemPort |
7. Greenstock, C. L. , and Rollinson, E. R. , Nature, 201, 812 (1964). | Article | ISI |
8. Whiffen, D. H. , in ref. 2, chapter 17.
9. Simmons, J. A. , Ph.D. thesis, Univ. of London (1960).