Title: Polyphenolic extracts from the xerophyte Rhamnus lycioides as a radiation biodosimeter

Abstract

The majority of dosimeters currently in use are synthetic and very expensive. Therefore, the study of the dosimetric characteristics of polyphenolic extracts of xerophytes is useful because drought stress causes an increase in the production of these cheap and naturalcompounds containing benzene rings. Here, the polyphenolic compounds were extracted from Rhamnus lycioides which was collected from Bou-Hedma National Park in Tunisia andidentified using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). We investigated the impact of cobalt-60 (60Co) irradiation (0–30 kilogray (kGy)) on the color parameters of polyphenolic extracts of R. lycioides using the Konica Minolta CR 300 portable colorimeter and UV–Visible spectroscopy. The structural and morphological characteristics of the irradiated extracts were assessed using Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, Xray diffraction (XRD) technique and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Overall, our results suggest that exposure to ionizing radiation (IR) of the polyphenolic components of the xerophyte R. lycioides has produced significant dose-dependent changes in their optical andmorphological properties. Thus, these extracts can be valorized as biodosimeters in the dose range from 5 to 25 kGy.

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