Boron-rich benzene and pyrene derivatives for the detection of thermal neutrons.
A synthetic methodology is developed to generate boron rich aromatic small molecules based on benzene and pyrene moieties for the detection of thermal neutrons. The prepared aromatic compounds have a relatively high boron content up to 7.4 wt%, which is important for application in neutron detection as (10)B (20% of natural abundance boron) has a large neutron induced reaction cross-section. This is demonstrated by preparing blends of the synthesized molecules with fluorescent dopants in poly(vinyltoluene) matrices resulting in comparable scintillation light output and neutron capture as state-of-the art commercial scintillators, but with the advantage of much lower cost. The boron-rich benzene and pyrene derivatives are prepared by Suzuki conditions using both microwave and traditional heating, affording yields of 40-93%. This new procedure is simple and straightforward, and has the potential to be scaled up.
Department of Chemistry and Geochemistry, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401, USA.
Henok A
HA
Yemam
Department of Physics, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401, USA.
Adam
A
Mahl
Department of Chemistry and Geochemistry, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401, USA.
Unsal
U
Koldemir
Department of Physics, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401, USA.
Tyler
T
Remedes
Department of Chemistry, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA.
Sean
S
Parkin
Department of Physics, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401, USA.
Uwe
U
Greife
Department of Chemistry and Geochemistry, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401, USA.
Alan
A
Sellinger