An investigation into ultra-sensitive substituted leucomalachite dye derivatives for use in the PRESAGE® dosimeter

A comparison between a commercial leucomalachite green (LMG) dye and three newly synthesised derivatives incorporated into the PRESAGE® dosimeter was carried out to determine their effect on the sensitivity and post-response photofading of the dosimeter. For all of the substituted LMG derivatives (with either methoxy, chlorine or bromine substituents), the sensitivity of the resulting dosimeters to radiation dose increased significantly and was dependent on the type of LMG derivative used, with the bromine substituted derivative showing the highest sensitivity increase (450%) followed by chlorine and methoxy substituted derivatives (340%, 200 %, respectively) relative to commercial LMG. All LMG dyes investigated showed similar post-response photofading characteristics except the methoxy-LMG derivative, which showed a slight improvement in post-response photo-retention.