International Journal of Innovative Research in Science, Engineering and Technology (An ISO 3297: 2007 Certified Organization) Vol. 3, Issue 1, January 2014 8101 | Page ISSN: 2319-8753 EFFECT OF GAMMA RADIATION ON THE STRUCTURE AND CONCENTRATION ANALYSIS OF CHLOROPHYLL AND CAROTENE OF CORIANDER SEEDS N.R.A. El-Mouhty 1,3 , H. M. H. Gad 2 . A. Y. El-Naggar, 1, 5 R.F. Hassan 3,6 ,.& N.A. Abdel Latif 3,4 Labelled Compounds Department, Radioisotopes Production and Radioactive Sources Division, Hot Laboratories Center, Atomic Energy Authority, P.O. 13759, Cairo, Egypt 1 . Chemistry Department and environmental control, Hot laboratories and Waste Management Center, Atomic Energy Authority, P.O. 13759, Cairo, Egypt 2 . Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Taif University, 888-Taif, KSA 3 . Associate professor of natural products, Chemistry Department, Pharmaceutical Industries Division, National research center, Dokki, Egypt 4 . • .Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute-Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt 5 Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt 6 . . Abstract: This work investigates mainly the effect of gamma radiation on chlorophyll and carotene of the coriander seeds. The coriander seeds were irradiated at different doses of gamma radiation (10, 20, 40 Gy). After irradiation, the coriander seeds were grown and the plant pigments as chlorophyll and carotene were extracted by mashing method. Different parameters such as solvent extraction, contact time and weight of plant were studied before and after irradiation to determine the best irradiation dose and optimum condition of extraction of the these pigment. It can be concluded that the optimum conditions for extraction of these pigments were as the following; 2gm coriander plant, reaction time of 45 min and 85% concentration of acetone for solvent extraction. From the FTIR spectrum of chlorophyll and carotene, it can be concluded that the irradiation of coriander seeds with 10 Gy dose had no effect on coriander plant. Keywords: gamma irradiation, coriander seeds, plant pigments, irradiated food . I INTRODUCTION In recent years, ionizing radiation such as gamma rays has been used as an effective way to maintain the quality of food for a long time. In addition, radiation treatments of food can kill and sterile insects as well as they can prevent reproduction of food-born parasites. However, the effect of the irradiation of gamma rays on the plants pigments has not been deeply investigated yet (Ganapathi, etal., 2008) . Moreover, changes may be happened on the structure and concentration of pigments certainly chlorophyll and carotene, where chlorophyll act on production of red blood cells and carotene act as antioxidant for human .Therefore, the aim of this work is to investigate the change in concentration and structure of chlorophyll and carotene before (irradiated) and after exposure (irradiated) at