Sensors and Actuators B 200 (2014) 109–116 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical jo ur nal home page: www.elsevier.com/locate/snb Radiochromic label dosimeter based on a synthesized monomer of 2,4-hexadiyn-1,6-bis(n-butyl urethane) Y.S. Soliman a,∗ , A.M.M. Bayomi a , A.A. Abdel-Fattah a , A.A. Abdel-Khalek b a National Center for Radiation Research and Technology (NCRRT), Atomic Energy Authority (AEA), PO Box 8029, Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt b Faculty of Science, Chemistry Department, Beni-Suef University, Beni-Suef City, Egypt a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 28 January 2014 Received in revised form 31 March 2014 Accepted 12 April 2014 Available online 24 April 2014 Keywords: Radiation detectors Dosimeter Organic synthesis Coatings Reflectance colorimeter a b s t r a c t A poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) label containing 2,4-hexadiyn-1,6-bis(n-butyl urethane) (HDDBU) monomer was prepared for potential use in radiation process control to detect and measure radiation exposure. HDDBU, radiation-sensitive monomer, was synthesized, dispersed into PVA solution, and coated on self- adhesive paper using an automatic film applicator system. The physicochemical characteristics of the label were investigated using a portable reflectance colorimeter, at 560 and 610 nm in the dose range of 10–4000 Gy. The monomer polymerizes with gamma radiation producing blue–violet coloration in PVA film and this color increases proportionally with increasing absorbed dose. The overall uncertainty of dose measurement is below 6.5% at 2. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Ionizing radiation is commonly used for industrial applica- tions of food preservation, blood irradiation, and medical devices sterilization. Such applications require dosimeters with higher accuracy to quantify the absorbed doses and indicators to detect visually the radiation exposure. Some radiochromic films con- taining radiation-sensitive, dyes [1–3], and conjugated diacetylene derivatives [4–6] are widely used for such purposes. Conjugated diacetylene derivatives polymerize as a single-crystal-to-single crystal by topochemical reaction (1,4-trans addition) in the solid crystalline state with -radiation converting into highly colored (-conjugated) polydiacetylenes [7–9] (Fig. 1). This polymerization takes place when the diacetylene molecules are ordered or in the crystalline state and it is initiated by radicals. These compounds can incorporated in films, papers, inks and packing materials for radia- tion process control [6,10] A radiochromic label containing one of diacetylene derivatives named 4BCMU, 5,7-dodecadiyne-1,12-diol bis[((butoxy carbonyl) methyl) urethane], (manufactured in Allied Corporation, USA), was developed for radiation processing in the dose range of 10–500 Gy [10]. 4BCMU is a highly radiation-active material and turns blue upon -irradiation. ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +2 02 26714166; fax: +2 02 26714166. E-mail address: yasser shabaan@hotmail.com (Y.S. Soliman). Gafchromic film dosimeters are mainly formulated from micro- crystalline monomers of diacetylenes coated on a flexible polyester film for potential use in the dose range of 1 Gy to 40 kGy [11]. The color of active layers turns red or blue upon -ray exposure by solid-state topochemical polymerization of the monomers. The amount of dyed polymer increases proportionally with increasing absorbed dose [12–14]. These types of dosimeters can be analyzed by spectrophotometric technique, photo flatted scanner [15] and by reflection spectrometric analysis [16] as well as by specular colorimeter [6]. Sterin Irradiation Indicator Labels (International Specialty Products, Wayne New Jersey, USA) is mainly based on such diacetylene derivatives [17]. It is actually used for visual irra- diation treatment in the dose range of 50–500 Gy and for quality assurance of irradiation disinfestations. Another type of dosimeter named Self-indicating, Instant, Radiation Alert Dosimeter (SIRAD), was successfully developed for personal dose monitoring in the level of 0.1–1000 rad [18–20]. The uncertainty in estimated dose by SIRAD strip was found to be ∼30% especially in case of exposure to low photon energy of 25.5 keV [20]. Self-adhesive label (colorless and yellow) dosimeters, incor- porate a radiation-active 10,12-pentacosadiynoic acid (PCDA), have been recently developed and investigated using specu- lar reflectance colorimeter for application in 15–2000 Gy range [6]. The colorless label turns progressively blue while the yel- low color one turns green then into greenish-blue due to radiation–polymerization of PCDA. The overall uncertainty of dose measurement was recorded as ∼6.06% (2). In addition, PCDA http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.snb.2014.04.045 0925-4005/© 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.