- Key People:
- Glenn T. Seaborg
- Related Topics:
- plutonium
- rutherfordium
- americium
- nobelium
- dubnium
Transactinoid elements and their predicted properties
The postulated nuclear island of stability is important to chemistry. The periodic table of the elements classifies a wealth of physical and chemical properties, and study of the chemical properties of the heavy elements would show how far the classification scheme of the table could be extended on the basis of the nuclear island of stability. Such study would shed new light on the underlying properties of electrons orbiting the nucleus because it is these properties that produce the periodic system. The positions of heavy elements in the periodic table ultimately would be determined by the characteristic energies of the electrons of their atoms, especially the valence electrons. Complex calculations have predicted meaningful distribution of electrons in orbitals for a number of heavy elements. Results for elements 104–121 are given in the Click Here to see full-size table
table, the configurations being those that the atoms have when they are at their lowest energy level, called the ground state.
It must be stated that these calculations are oversimplified; the actual electronic configurations are determined by complicated relativistic effects, and hence the consequent predicted chemical properties will need eventually to be modified based on additional chemical experiments on the transactinoid elements. However, the simplified predictions are accurate to a good first approximation.
The first transactinoid elements
The first two transactinoid elements, rutherfordium (Rf) and dubnium (Db), with atomic numbers 104 and 105, respectively, have isotopes with half-lives sufficiently long (13 and 32 hours, respectively) to allow determination of chemical properties by application of specifically devised “fast chemistry” techniques. The results of these studies are consistent with the electronic structures listed in the table and their position in the periodic table shown in the figure, with some deviations that reflect the influence of relativistic effects. Seaborgium (Sg), bohrium (Bh), and hassium (Hs), with atomic numbers 106, 107, and 108, respectively, also have isotopes that allow determination of their chemical properties. Chemical studies on still-heavier elements await the discovery of longer-lived isotopes (if such exist and can be synthesized). Some predictions for heavier elements follow.
Nihonium and flerovium
The calculations of electronic structure permit predictions of detailed physical and chemical properties of some superheavy elements. Computer calculations of the character and energy levels of possible valence electrons in the atoms of the elements nihonium and flerovium (elements 113 and 114) have substantiated their placement in the expected positions. Extrapolations of properties from elements with lower numbers to nihonium and flerovium can then be made within the usual limitations of the periodic table. The attached table gives the results of such extrapolations. Although, in many cases, theoretical calculations are combined with extrapolation, the fundamental method involved is to plot the value of a given property of each member of the group against the appropriate row of the periodic table. The property is then extrapolated to the seventh row, the row containing nihonium and flerovium. The method is illustrated in the for estimating the melting point of nihonium.
| element 113 (eka-thallium) | element 114 (eka-lead) | |
|---|---|---|
| chemical group | 13 | 14 |
| atomic weight | 297 | 298 |
| most stable oxidation state | +1 | +2 |
| oxidation potential, V | –0.6 | –0.8 |
| M → M+ + e– | M → M2+ + 2e– | |
| metallic radius, Å | 1.75 | 1.85 |
| ionic radius, Å | 1.48 | 1.31 |
| first ionization potential, eV | 7.4 | 8.5 |
| second ionization potential, eV | . . . | 16.8 |
| density, g/cm3 | 16 | 14 |
| atomic volume, cm2/mole | 18 | 21 |
| boiling point, °C | 1,100 | 150 |
| melting point, °C | 430 | 70 |
| heat of sublimation, kcal/mole | 34 | 10 |
| heat of vaporization, kcal/mole | 31 | 9 |
| debye temperature, °K | 70 | 46 |
| entropy, entropy unit/mole (25 °C) | 17 | 20 |
The bonding property of an element can be expressed by the energy required to shift a bonding, or valence, electron. This energy can be expressed in various ways, one of which is a relative value called the oxidation potential. The relative stabilities of possible oxidation states (or oxidation numbers) of an element represent what is probably that element’s most important chemical property. The oxidation number of the atom of an element indicates the number of its orbiting electrons available for chemical bonds or actually involved in bonds with other atoms, as in a molecule or in a crystal. When an atom is capable of several kinds of bonding arrangements, using a different number of electrons for each kind, the number of arrangements equals the number of possible oxidation states. The prediction of stable oxidation states can be illustrated with flerovium, which occurs in group 14 of the periodic table. The outstanding periodic characteristic of the group 14 elements is their tendency to go from a +4, or tetrapositive, oxidation state to a +2, or dipositive, state as the atomic number increases. Thus, carbon and silicon are very stable in the tetrapositive state, germanium shows a weak dipositive state and a strong tetrapositive state, tin shows about equal stability in the tetrapositive and dipositive states, while lead is dominated by the dipositive state and shows only weak tetrapositive properties. Extrapolation in the periodic table to the seventh row, then, results in a predicted most-stable dipositive oxidation state for flerovium. This result is supported by valence bond theory and by extrapolations of thermodynamic data.