Nuclear chemistry

Nuclear chemistry is a subfield of chemistry dealing with radioactivity, nuclear processes and nuclear properties. It may be divided into the following four categories:

• Radiochemistry which is the chemistry of radioactive materials, in radiochemistry it is oftein the case that the radioactive isotopes of elements are used to study the properties and chemical reactions of ordinary non radioactive (oftein within radioachemistry the absence of radioactivity leads to a substance being described as being inactive as the isotopes are stable). An example of the use of radiochemistry would be the study of DNA using radioactive phosphorus-32.
• Radiation chemistry is the study of the chemical effects of radiation on matter, this is very different to radiochemistry as no radioactivity needs to be present in the material which is being chemically changed as a result of the radiation. An example of radiation chemistry would be the conversion of water into hydrogen gas and hydrogen peroxide.
• The application of techniques from chemistry to study nuclear reactions such as fission and fusion — see also nuclear physics.
• Isotopic chemistry deals with the effect of nuclear mass on chemical reactions and the properties of compounds (see isotope effect).
• Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy uses the net spin of nuclei in a substances upon energy absorption, and is used to identify molecules.
• The chemistry associated with any part of the nuclear fuel cycle, eg advanced reprocessing.

See also Important publications in nuclear chemistry Template:BranchesofChemistry