Investigation of the reactions of the OH radical with poly(acrylic acid) and poly(methacrylic acid) in aqueous solution using the Tb³⁺ fluorescence probe

There are numerous investigations of effects of ⁶⁰Co γ irradiation on polymers in the solid state. However, there has been little investigation of the γ irradiation effect of water soluble polymers which leads to chain degradation or scission of the polymers. Behzadi and Schnabel reported that the reactivity of OH radicals generated in water by γ-ray irradiation with water soluble polymers depended on the molecular weight and conformation. However, the reaction mechanism, such as the formation of terminal groups produced in the chain scission, has received little attention. Therefore, the authors initiated an investigation of the reaction of OH radicals generated by γ-ray irradiation of an aqueous solution of poly(acrylic acid)(PAA) and poly(methacrylic acid)(PMA) using Tb³⁺ as a fluorescence probe.