An alanine-boron compound for thermal neutron fluence measurements. Part 1 synthesis and development

An alanine-boron compound was synthesized and chemically characterized to be used for thermal neutrons fluence measurements. The synthesis of the compound was made by reacting the amino acid alanine with boric acid in three different media: acidic, neutral and alkaline. Chemical analysis showed that the alkaline medium is favorable for the synthesis. This paper includes preliminary results of the use of the alanine-boron compound as a thermal neutron fluence detector. The technique used is the detection of the free radical yield upon thermal neutron irradiation by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR).