Experimental tests of relativistic chemistry will update the periodic table

All chemistry students are taught about the periodic table, an organization of the elements that helps you identify and predict trends in their properties. Science fiction writers, for example, sometimes describe life based on the element silicon because it appears in the same column in the periodic table as carbon.

However, there are deviations from the expected periodic trends. For example, lead and tin are in the same column in the periodic table and must therefore have similar properties. Although lead-acid batteries are common in cars, however, lead-acid batteries do not work. Nowadays, we know that this is because most of the energy in lead acid batteries can be attributed to relativistic chemistry, but the researchers who proposed the periodic proposal were unknown.

Relativist chemistry is difficult to study in the super-heavy elements, because such elements are usually produced one by one in nuclear fission reactions and deteriorate rapidly. However, the ability to study the chemistry of super-heavy elements may uncover new applications for super-heavy elements and ordinary lighter elements, such as lead and gold.

In a recent study in Natural chemistry, researchers from the University of Osaka studied how single atoms of super-heavy rutherfordium metal react with two classes of common bases. Such experiments will help researchers to use relativistic principles to make better use of the chemistry of many elements.

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“We prepared some atoms of rutherfordium in the RIKEN accelerator research facility and attempted to react these atoms with hydroxide bases or amine bases,” explains Yoshitaka Kasamatsu, lead author of the study. “Measurements of radioactivity indicated the end result.”

Researchers can better understand relativistic chemistry from such experiments. Rutherfordium, for example, forms hydroxide-based precipitates in all base concentrations, but its homologous zirconium and hafnium in high concentrations. This difference in reactivity can be attributed to relativistic chemistry.

“If we had a way to produce pure rutherfordium precipitate in larger quantities, we could continue with practical applications,” says senior author Atsushi Shinohara. “Meanwhile, our studies will help researchers systematically investigate the chemistry of super-heavy elements.”

Relativist chemistry explains why bulk gold metal is not silver colored, as expected from the periodic table predictions. Such chemistry also explains why mercury metal is a liquid at room temperature, despite predictions from periodic tables. There can be many unforeseen applications due to the knowledge of the chemistry of super-heavy elements. These discoveries will depend on newly reported protocols and ongoing fundamental studies such as these by Osaka University researchers.