Advances in chemical investigations of the heaviest elements

Abstract

Abstract. Although somewhat in the shadow of the discoveries of new elements, experimental chemical investigations of the heaviest elements have made tremendous progress in the last decades. Indeed, it was possible to experimentally determine thermochemical properties of heavy transactinide elements such as copernicium or flerovium. But will it be possible to chemically study all currently known elements of the periodic table up to element 118? While it is experimentally feasible to work with single atoms, the short half-lives of even the longest currently known isotopes of elements 115 through 118 call for new experimental approaches.

Reactivity of superheavy elements Cn and Fl and of their oxides in comparison with homologous species of Hg and Pb, respectively, towards gold and hydroxylated quartz surfaces

“…Significant progress has been achieved in recent years in the study of the chemical properties of man-made superheavy elements (SHEs), i.e., those with Z = 104 and higher. [1][2][3] Elements whose chemical properties are now the focus of experimental investigations include those with Z = 112 (Cn), 113 (Nh) and 114 (Fl). [4][5][6][7][8][9] Some of the isotopes of these elements are sufficiently long lived 10 to allow for their delivery from the physical separator to the chemistry setup, where their decay chains are registered.…”

On the adsorption and reactivity of element 114, flerovium

“…Their production rates decrease rapidly and their nuclear lifetimes drop with increasing atomic number, Z ( Oganessian and Utyonkov, 2015 ). This makes chemical studies of SHE very challenging ( Türler et al, 2015 ; Türler, 2016 ). Relativistic effects strongly affect the electronic shell structure in SHE, and, hence, chemical properties of SHE, rendering their study very interesting.…”

Reactivity of the Superheavy Element 115, Mc, and Its Lighter Homologue, Bi, with Respect to Gold and Hydroxylated Quartz Surfaces from Periodic Relativistic DFT Calculations: A Comparison with Element 113, Nh

“…As shown in our numerous works and those of other researchers in the field, − relativistic effects are increasingly important in the properties of superheavy elements (SHEs) and their compounds; they can lead to unusual chemical behavior with respect to lighter homologues in the chemical groups. This makes investigations of SHE properties, both experimental and theoretical, exciting and challenging. − Theoretically, the chemical properties of elements as heavy as Z = 120 and even some heavier elements have been predicted (see ref for a recent review), while experimentally, the heaviest elements studied so far are Z = 112 (Cn) and Z = 114 (Fl), having sufficiently long half-lives ( T 1/2 ). − There is also a report about the chemistry of element 113 (Nh) . For single atoms of SHEs produced by nuclear reactions, one of the few ways to characterize them chemically is to measure their adsorption properties on surfaces of some materials. − This is achieved with the use of gas-phase chromatography techniques developed for volatile species.…”

“…This makes investigations of SHE properties, both experimental and theoretical, exciting and challenging. − Theoretically, the chemical properties of elements as heavy as Z = 120 and even some heavier elements have been predicted (see ref for a recent review), while experimentally, the heaviest elements studied so far are Z = 112 (Cn) and Z = 114 (Fl), having sufficiently long half-lives ( T 1/2 ). − There is also a report about the chemistry of element 113 (Nh) . For single atoms of SHEs produced by nuclear reactions, one of the few ways to characterize them chemically is to measure their adsorption properties on surfaces of some materials. − This is achieved with the use of gas-phase chromatography techniques developed for volatile species. According to such techniques, adsorption of single species under investigation takes place on the surface of gold-plated and/or silicon oxide detectors of the chromatography column.…”