Chemical properties of mendelevium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hulet, E.K.

1980-01-01

The isotope 256 Md is nearly always employed for chemical studies of this element. This nuclide can be made by bombardment of fractions of a microgram of 254 Es with intense alpha-particle beams which will produce about 10 6 atoms of 256 Md with a half-life of 77 minutes. Even with the most intense ion beams and the largest available quantities of target isotope, about 10 6 atoms at a time is all the Md that can be produced for chemical studies. This lack of sufficient sample size coupled with the very short lifetimes of the few atoms produced has severly restricted the gathering and broadening of our knowledge concerning the properties of Md and the heavier elements. To illustrate, the literature contains a mere eleven references to the chemical studies of Md, and none of these deal with bulk properties associated with element found in solid phases. Some of these findings are: Md was found to be more volatile than other actinide metals which lead to the belief that it is divalent in the metallic state; separation of Md from the other actinides can be accomplished either by reduction of Md to the divalent state or by chromatographic separations with Md remaining in the tripositive state; extraction of Md with bis(2-ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid is much poorer than the extraction of the neighboring tripositive actinides; attempts to oxidize Md wih sodium bismuthate failed to show any evidence of Md 4+ ; standard reduction potential of Md 3+ was found to be close to -0.1 volt; Md 3+ can be reduced to Md(Hg) by sodium amalgams and by electrolysis; the electrochemical behavior of Md is very similar to that of Fm and can be summarized in the equation, Md 2+ + 2e - = Md(Hg), and E 0 = 1.5 V

Chemical properties of mendelevium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hulet, E.K.

1980-11-01

Even with the most intense ion beams and the largest available quantities of target isotope, about 10 6 atoms at a time is all the Md that can be produced for chemical studies. This lack of sufficient sample size coupled with the very short lifetimes of the few atoms produced has severely restricted the gathering and the broadness of our knowledge concerning the properties of Md and the heavier elements. To illustrate, the literature contains a mere eleven references to the chemical studies of Md, and none of these deal with bulk properties associated with the element bound in solid phases. Some of these findings are: Md was found to be more volatile than other actinide metals which lead to the belief that it is divalent in the metallic state; separation of Md from the other actinides can be accomplished either by reduction of Md 3+ to the divalent state or by chromatographic separations with Md remaining in the tripositive state; extraction of Md 2+ with bis(2-ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid is much poorer than the extraction of the neighboring tripositive actinides; attempts to oxidize Md 3+ with sodium bismuthate failed to show any evidence for Md 4+ ; reduction potential of Md 3+ was found to be close to -0.1 volt; Md 3+ can be reduced to Md(Hg) by sodium amalgams and by electrolysis; the electrochemical behavior of Md is very similar to that of Fm and can be summarized in the equation, Md 2+ + 2e - = Md(Hg) and E 0 = -1.50 V.; and Md cannot be reduced to a monovalent ion with Sm 2+

Chemistry of the heaviest elements--one atom at a time

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoffman, Darleane C.; Lee, Diana M.

2000-01-01

In keeping with the goal of the Viewpoint series of the Journal of Chemical Education, this article gives a 75-year perspective of the chemistry of the heaviest elements, including a 50-year retrospective view of past developments, a summary of current research achievements and applications, and some predictions about exciting, new developments that might be envisioned within the next 25 years. A historical perspective of the importance of chemical separations in the discoveries of the transuranium elements from neptunium (Z=93) through mendelevium (Z=101) is given. The development of techniques for studying the chemical properties of mendelevium and still heavier elements on the basis of measuring the radioactive decay of a single atom (''atom-at-a-time'' chemistry) and combining the results of many separate experiments is reviewed. The influence of relativistic effects (expected to increase as Z 2 ) on chemical properties is discussed. The results from recent atom-at-a-time studies of the chemistry of the heaviest elements through seaborgium (Z=106) are summarized and show that their properties cannot be readily predicted based on simple extrapolation from the properties of their lighter homologues in the periodic table. The prospects for extending chemical studies to still heavier elements than seaborgium are considered and appear promising

Studies of neutron-deficient mendelevium isotopes at SHIP

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Antalic, S.; Saro, S. [Comenius University, Department of Nuclear Physics and Biophysics, Bratislava (Slovakia); Hessberger, F.P.; Ackermann, D.; Heinz, S.; Kindler, B.; Kojouharov, I.; Lommel, B.; Mann, R. [GSI Helmholtzzentrum fuer Schwerionenforschung GmbH, Darmstadt (Germany); Hofmann, S. [GSI Helmholtzzentrum fuer Schwerionenforschung GmbH, Darmstadt (Germany); Goethe-Universitaet, Institut fuer Kernphysik, Frankfurt am Main (Germany); Kuusiniemi, P. [University of Oulu, Centre for Underground Physics in Pyhaesalmi (CUPP), Oulu (Finland); Leino, M. [University of Jyvaeskylae, Department of Physics, Jyvaeskylae (Finland)

2010-01-15

The radioactive decay of the isotopes {sup 247}Md, {sup 246}Md and their daughter products was investigated by means of {alpha}-{alpha} and {alpha}-{gamma} coincidence spectroscopy. The isotopes were produced using the fusion reaction {sup 40}Ar + {sup 209}Bi. Decay schemes are suggested for {sup 247}Md and {sup 243}Es. A new isomeric state in {sup 246}Md with a half-life of (4.4{+-}0.8) s was observed. Previous data of electron-capture delayed fission of {sup 246}Md and {sup 242}Es were confirmed. The probability for this decay branch in {sup 246}Md was measured to be P{sub ECDF}>0.10. The probability for electron-capture delayed fission in the case of {sup 242}Es was determined to be P{sub ECDF}=0.013{sup +0.012} {sub -0.007}. (orig.)

Actinides

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martinot, L.; Fuger, J.

1985-01-01

The oxidation behavior of the actinides is explained on the basis of their electronic structure. The actinide elements, actinium, thorium, protactinium, uranium, neptunium, plutonium, americium, curium, berkelium, californium, einsteinium, fermium, mendelevium, nobelium, and laurencium are included. For all except the last three elements, the points of discussion are oxidation states, Gibbs energies and potentials, and potential diagram for the element in acid solution; and thermodynamic properties of these same elements are tabulated. References are cited following discussion of each element with a total of 97 references being cited. 13 tables

The discovery of 260Md and the decay properties of 258Fm, 258m,gMd and 259Md

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lougheed, R.W.; Hulet, E.K.; Dougan, R.J.; Wild, J.F.; Dupzyk, R.J.; Henderson, C.M.; Moody, K.J.; Hahn, R.L.; Suemmerer, K.; Bethune, G.

1986-01-01

We have discovered a new neutron-rich isotope, 260 Md, from 18 O and 22 Ne bombardments of 254 Es. We observed a spontaneous-fission (SF) activity with a half-life of 32 days in electromagnetically separated fractions with mass number 260 from these bombardments and we measured the mass and kinetic energy distributions of this SF activity. The mass distribution was symmetric with the principal energy peak at a total kinetic energy (TKE) of 234 MeV, similar to previous observations for heavy fermium isotopes. Surprisingly, we also observed a smaller symmetric component with a TKE of 195 MeV. We interpret these two peaks in the TKE distribution as arising from two types of fission in the same nucleus, or bimodal fission. The observed fission activity may be either from the SF decay of 260 Md or from 260 Fm which would arise from electron-capture (EC) decay of 260 Md. We have eliminated the possible β - decay of 260 Md by measuring β - -SF time correlations for the decay of 260 Md and we plan to determine whether 260 Md decays by EC by measuring time correlations between fermium X-rays and SF events. We also measured various properties of the heavy fermium and mendelevium isotopes and obtained 1. more accurate cross-sections for the neutron-rich mendelevium isotopes which we use to predict the production rates of yet undiscovered nuclides, 2. improved half-life measurements for 258m,g Md and 259 Md, 3. confirmation of the EC decay of 258m Md by measurement of the fermium X-rays preceding the SF decay of 258 Fm and 4. very substantially improved mass and TKE distributions for the SF decay of 258 Fm and 259 Md. (orig.)

Characteristic of metallic state preperties of mendelevium and other actinoids by thermochcomatography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hubener, S.; Zvara, I.

1982-01-01

The adsorption of the heavy actinoids Cf, Es, Fm, and Md on polycrystalline titanium and molybdenum has been studied by thermochromatography in comparison with several well-known metallic elements, in trace amounts. The data lead us to suggest that Es, Fm, and Md are divalent in the metallic state and, moreover, that the position of their f energy levels relativg to the Fermi-energy is lower than in the cases of Cf and Yb. A correlation was found between the experimental enthalpies of adsorption of the heavy actinoids and their predicted enthalpies of sublimation

Transuranium elements: Past, present, and future

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Seaborg, G.T.

1995-01-01

In this illustrative Account the authors shall concentrate on four of these elements, chosen for their current interest or pivotal role. The story of plutonium is one of the most dramatic in the history of science, and today, plutonium is at the focus of an extraordinary dilemma. Mendelevium (element 101) has played a pivotal role in blazing the trail for the discovery of the heaviest elements on the basis of open-quotes one atom at a timeclose quotes production. Seaborgium (element 106) was recently named in my honor by the discoverers and may be the last element, at least for some time, for which it will be possible to determine many chemical properties. And element 110 represents recent evidence, after a lapse of 10 years, for the discovery of a chemical element. Recent (1994) recommendations of the IUPAC Commission on the Nomenclature of Inorganic Chemistry for the renaming of elements 104-108 have met with widespread rejection. The author is using the names proposed by the acknowledged discoverers (elements 106-109) or, in the case of the disputed elements 104 and 105, the most logical names. 21 refs., 5 figs

Optical simulations for the S3 project - Super separator spectrometer - gamma-electron coincidence spectroscopy of a transfermium nucleus: the 251Md101

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dechery, Fabien

2012-01-01

In analogy with the atomic closed shells giving rise to the stability and high ionisation energies of noble gases, nuclear physics also has its magic numbers of protons and neutrons which enhance nuclear structure stability. Knowledge of the structure of doubly-magic nuclei, both proton and neutron numbers, is crucial to parameterize theoretical models. The discovery of the next and ultimate magic numbers will provide a strong constraint on the many predictions. These two numbers are like the centre coordinates of an area of enhanced stability of the nuclear chart, well known as 'island of stability'. These superheavy nuclei only exist due to pure quantum shell effects. My thesis work deals with two distinct, but complementary, aspects of fundamental physics with the common goal of studying these extreme mass nuclei structure. The first part corresponds to the development of a next generation instrument for nuclear physics to allow synthesis and spectroscopy studies of superheavy nuclei: the Super Separator Spectrometer S 3 . This project will be installed at SPIRAL2 (GANIL) and has been approved by the French Research National Agency (ANR) within the EQUIPEX framework. It has been designed to take advantage of the high intensity heavy ion beam from the LINAC, giving access to a wide range of physical programs. The second part corresponds to the preparation, realisation and analysis of an experiment on 251-Mendelevium in which the very first prompt gamma-electron coincidence spectroscopy was performed for a transfermium nuclei. (author) [fr

Actinide production in the reaction of heavy ions with curium-248

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moody, K.J.

1983-07-01

Chemical experiments were performed to examine the usefulness of heavy ion transfer reactions in producing new, neutron-rich actinide nuclides. A general quasi-elastic to deep-inelastic mechanism is proposed, and the utility of this method as opposed to other methods (e.g. complete fusion) is discussed. The relative merits of various techniques of actinide target synthesis are discussed. A description is given of a target system designed to remove the large amounts of heat generated by the passage of a heavy ion beam through matter, thereby maximizing the beam intensity which can be safely used in an experiment. Also described is a general separation scheme for the actinide elements from protactinium (Z=91) to mendelevium (Z=101), and fast specific procedures for plutonium, americium and berkelium. The cross sections for the production of several nuclides from the bombardment of 248 Cm with 18 O, 86 Kr and 136 Xe projectiles at several energies near and below the Coulomb barrier were determined. The results are compared with yields from 48 Ca and 238 U bombardments of 248 Cm. Simple extrapolation of the product yields into unknown regions of charge and mass indicates that the use of heavy ion transfer reactions to produce new, neutron-rich above-target species is limited. The substantial production of neutron-rich below-target species, however, indicates that with very heavy ions like 136 Xe and 238 U the new species 248 Am, 249 Am and 247 Pu should be produced with large cross sections from a 248 Cm target. A preliminary, unsuccessful attempt to isolate 247 Pu is outlined. The failure is probably due to the half life of the decay, which is calculated to be less than 3 minutes. The absolute gamma ray intensities from 251 Bk decay, necessary for calculating the 251 Bk cross section, are also determined

Application of alpha spectrometry to the discovery of new elements by heavy-ion-beam bombardment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nitschke, J.M.

1983-05-01

Starting with polonium in 1898, α-spectrometry has played a decisive role in the discovery of new, heavy elements. For even-even nuclei, α-spectra have proved simple to interpret and exhibit systematic trends that allow extrapolation to unknown isotopes. The early discovery of the natural α-decay series led to the very powerful method of genetically linking the decay of new elements to the well-established α-emission of daughter and granddaughter nuclei. This technique has been used for all recent discoveries of new elements including Z = 109. Up to mendelevium (Z = 101), thin samples suitable for α-spectrometry were prepared by chemical methods. With the advent of heavy-ion accelerators new sample preparation methods emerged. These were based on the large momentum transfer associated with heavy-ion reactions, which produced energetic target recoils that, when ejected from the target, could be thermalized in He gas. Subsequent electrical deposition or a He-jet technique yielded samples that were not only thin enough for α-spectroscopy, but also for α- and #betta#-recoil experiments. Many variations of these methods have been developed and are discussed. For the synthesis of element 106 an aerosol-based recoil transport technique was devised. In the most recent experiments, α-spectrometry has been coupled with the magnetic analysis of the recoils. The time from production to analysis of an isotope has thereby been reduced to 10 - 6 s; while it was 10 - 1 to 10 0 s for He-jets and 10 1 to 10 3 s for rapid chemical separations. Experiments are now in progress to synthesize super heavy elements (SHE) and to analyze them with these latest techniques. Again, α-spectrometry will play a major role since the expected signature for the decay of a SHE is a sequence of α-decays followed by spontaneous fission

Život i djelo Dmitrija Ivanoviča Mendeljejeva - povodom 100. obljetnice smrti

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Vaščić, V.

2007-04-01

Full Text Available The life and activities of D. I. Mendeleyev are presented primarily in view of his role in the progress of chemistry. Born in Tobolsk in 1834 to a numerous and poor family, burdened by the family's bad luck and his ill health, he graduated natural sciences in 1855 at St. Petersburg and was awarded a gold medal for exceptional success. In 1855/56 he was teacher at a secondary school in Odessa. He obtained his MSc degree in 1856 in St. Petersburg where he was appointed lecturer in 1857. He was guest scientist 1859-1861 at the University in Heidelberg where he investigated the behavior of gases under various pressures and temperatures and discovered the criticaltemperature of liquefaction. He achieved his PhD degree in 1865 in St. Petersburg with a thesis on ethanol/water mixtures. Therein he had proven the existence of alcohol hydrates. His work later enabled the elaboration of modern conceptions on solvate formation in solutions. In 1865 he was elected professor at the University in St. Petersburg where he worked until 1890 when he was forced to retire. Preparing his textbook "Fundamentals of Chemistry" in 1869, he discovered that properties of chemical elements depend periodically on atomic weights. This enabled the elaboration of a periodic system as the base for classification in chemistry, as well as for further research and development of chemical science and technology. The international scientific community accepted Mendeleyev's system with distrust and it was generally acknowledged not before three "prophecies" of Mendeleyev were realized by the discovery of gallium (1875, scandium (1879 and germanium (1886. Later, in verification of his predictions, other elements - including transuranics - were discovered. Hence, in honor of the creator of the periodic system, the element of atomic number 101 was named mendelevium (1955. Mendeleyev was reactivated in 1892 as director of the Central Bureau for Measures and Weights where he worked until