DOI: 10.1140/epja/i2001-10266-0
Heavy-element chemistry -Status and perspectives
A. TürlerPaul Scherrer Institut, CH-5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland and Bern University, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland andreas.tuerler@psi.ch
(Received: 21 March 2002 / Published online: 31 October 2002)
Abstract
In the past ten years, nuclear chemists have made
considerable progress in developing fast on-line separation
techniques, which allowed to chemically characterize the first
four transactinide elements Rf (rutherfordium,
Z=104), Db
(dubnium,
Z=105), Sg (seaborgium,
Z=106), and
recently also Bh (bohrium,
Z=107). In all cases the isolated
nuclides were unambiguously identified by observing genetically
linked decay chains. Nuclides with production cross-sections of
less than 100 pb and half-lives as short as a few seconds have
been chemically isolated. Thus, chemists have discovered or
significantly contributed to the characterization of the
nuclear-decay properties of a number of transactinide nuclei. New
techniques with greatly improved overall efficiencies should allow
chemists to extend their studies to even heavier elements such as
Hs (hassium,
Z=108) and to the recently discovered
superheavy elements with
Z=112 and 114, which can be produced only
with picobarn cross-sections.
27.90.+b -
.
23.60.+e - Alpha decay.
© Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag 2002
