FISSION FRAGMENT IRRADIATIONS OF HYDROCARBONS: I. YIELD AND ISOTOPIC COMPOSITION OF HYDROGEN FROM MIXTURES OF CYCLOHEXANE AND BENZENE WITH THEIR DEUTERATED ANALOGUES

Cyclohexane and benzene and mixtures of each of these with cyclohexane-d12 and benzene-d6 have been irradiated with fission fragments using thin sources of [Formula: see text]. The hydrogen yield G(H2) for cyclohexane is 7.73, and is only slightly reduced by the addition of benzene. G(H2) for benzene is 2.14. The isotopic composition of the hydrogen from the four mixtures indicates that most is formed in bimolecular processes.To correlate these results with those obtained in gamma radiolysis, a mechanism is proposed based on hydrogen formation by reactions between transient species in both cyclohexane and benzene.