Study on the 1,3,5-triazine gamma-radiolysis

Triazines are a class of molecules which have been found in meteorites such as Orgueil meteorite. Despite their poor resistance to UV radiation, these molecules survived millions of years inside a meteorite. The present work is dedicated to the examination of the radiation resistance of the simplest sym-triazine: 1,3,5-triazine. The crystals of this molecule have been irradiated with γ-radiation at 50 and 350 kGy and were studied by electronic absorption spectroscopy, liquid chromatography, FT-IR spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). All the data suggest the relatively low stability of this molecule to high energy radiation. The resulting products from radiolysis are formamidine together with triazine dimers and oligomers. Other radiolysis products are H₂, CH₄, HCN and other gases.