Volodymyr T. Maslyuk

This study investigates the fragmentation characteristics and changes in the biological activity of pure and tableted paracetamol following irradiation with an 18 MeV electron beam in an M-30 microtron. Using aqueousphase mass spectrometric studies, fragmentation pathways were investigated, characteristic ion peaks were identified, and the influence of excipients in the tablet formulation on the formation of molecular fragmentation products was determined. Changes in the drug’s antibacterial and antifungal activity against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, and Candida albicans were evaluated. It was shown that electron irradiation causes significant structural changes in tabletted paracetamol and alters its biological activity. The results obtained indicate the potential of using radiation modification to develop drugs with improved pharmacological properties.

It has been shown that radiation physics of bioorganic compounds (BOC) must take into account the stages of formation and colonization of metastable states in the process of relaxation of molecular’ fission fragments, the Lego effect. The theory of such radiation transformations requires the use of Ball and Stick structural models, as well as color statistics that record the topology of BOC molecules. The calculation, performed on the example of radiation destruction and ordering of glucose molecule atoms, demonstrates the possibility of forming 12 or more chemical compounds with different properties. The practical implementation of such compounds requires the use of different both irradiation conditions and post-radiation “cooling.” The results obtained explain the results of BOS radiation experiments conducted on the M-30 microtron.

The effect of optical radiation during the phase transition from the amorphous to the crystalline state of matter was investigated for the first time. The results were obtained on nanoscale films of (LiF)_x(Li₂B₄O₇)_1‐x compositions by sputtering on cold Ni substrates. The starting materials for films were chosen due to their wide use for tissue‐equivalent ionizing radiation dosimetry. It is shown that the detected thermoluminescence effect is sensitive to the thickness of the films. The paper compares the results of these studies with the study of the thermoluminescence characteristics of films irradiated by an M‐30 microtron with bremsstrahlung radiation with a maximum energy of 6 MeV. The absorbed radiation dose was 1 kGy. Differences in the luminescence characteristics of irradiated and nonirradiated films were revealed. The nature of the demonstrated structural–optical effect is discussed.

The results of a complex study of the influence of nuclear radiation on the physical and chemical properties of distilled water, aqueous solutions of saccharides, ethyl alcohol, and their biological activity are presented. Irradiation was carried out on the M-30 microtron electron accelerator (12.5 MeV) and on isotope radiation stands based on 241Am, 137Cs, and 240Pu, which generate mixed nuclear radiation. The temporal evolution of chemical indicators and optical and frequency characteristics of electrical parameters of irradiated water environments are discussed. The selective biological effect of irradiated compounds on test microorganisms from different phylogenetic groups was established.

The method of mass spectrometric studies was used to study the fragmentation of glucose in the gas phase upon collision with low-energy electrons (20–70 eV) before and after irradiation at the M-30 microtron (12.5 MeV) with doses of 14 and 164 kGy. The dose dependence of the transformation of glucose mass spectra was established. The results indicate the dominance in mass spectra of symmetric fission channels of the molecule itself and its fragments formed under the action of M-30 microtron radiation. The same ways of fragmentation of glucose one can expect under chemical, thermal, and biological processes at the cellular level. The dominant channels of fragmentizing the glucose molecule without and considering its radiation treatment are explained within the framework of the method of structural combinations. The obtained results are essential for understanding the processes of cellular biochemistry and biophysics involving glucose, the hierarchy of its fragmentation channels under the influence of terrestrial radiation factors, and metabolic processes.

A new statistical approach is proposed, which allows modeling the stages of the creation of bioorganic molecules. Its basis is color statistics, which considers the non-equivalence of atoms with different bond energies in the structure of a biomolecule. The calculation was carried out on the example of amino acids within the Ball and Stick model; estimated energy and entropy parameters of biomolecular structures forming during their creation. The concepts of color sets of atoms are introduced, which determine the nature of the structural arrangement of their molecules and the configurational entropy. Data on the information capacity of amino acids, essential for understanding their role in biota, are presented for the first time. The possibilities of 3D computer simulation of structural transformations of amino acids based on the Unity platform are demonstrated.