Szilard-Chalmers Reaction

Szilard-Chalmers Reaction 

a reaction in which a cleavage of chemical bonds occurs in a compound when the radioactive nuclei formed upon bombardment with neutrons or gamma quanta acquire significant energy. The bond cleavage permits the separation of radioactive atoms. The reaction was discovered in 1934 by L. Szilard and T. Chalmers in Great Britain during the separation of a radioisotope of iodine,^l28I, from the neutron-irradiated compound C₂ H₅ I. The Szilard-Chalmers reaction underlies the methods for separating radionuclides formed in a (n, γ)nuclear reaction.

REFERENCES

Szilard, L., and T. A. Chalmers. “Chemical Separation of the Radioactive Element from its Bombarded Isotope in the Fermi Effect.” Nature, 1934, vol. 134, no. 3386.
Radiokhimiia i khimiia iadernykh protsessov. Edited by A. N. Murin (with others). Leningrad, 1960.
Haissinsky, M. N. ladernaia khimiia i ee prilozheniia. Moscow, 1961. (Translated from French.)