Extraction of the fluoride-, chloride- and bromide complexes of the elements Nb, Ta, Pa, and 105 into aliphatic amines

Abstract Previous studies of the halide complex formation of element 105 in HCl–HF mixtures and extractions into triisooctyl amine (TIOA) have been performed with the Automated Rapid Chemistry Apparatus, ARCA II. Element 105 was shown to be absorbed on the column from 12 M HCl–0.02 M HF together with its lighter homologues Nb, Ta and the pseudohomologue Pa. In elutions with 10 M HCl–0.025 M HF, 4 M HCl–0.02 M HF, and 0.5 M HCl–0.01 M HF, the extraction sequence Ta>Nb>105>Pa was observed and element 105 behaved very differently from its closest homologue Ta. As it is not possible within reasonable effort to model the many presumably mixed fluoride–chloride complexes involved in these studies…

Electronic structure and properties of MAu and MOH, where M = Tl and Nh: New data

Abstract Properties of the MAu and MOH (M = Tl and element 113, Nh) molecules were calculated using the 2c-DFT method. The obtained data are needed for evaluation of reactivity of Nh studied by gas-phase chromatography experiments. Results show that Nh should be less reactive (or more volatile) than Tl, both with respect to gold and the hydroxyl group. The reason for that are strong relativistic effects on the valence 7s and 7p electron shells. In difference to the atoms, NhOH may be less volatile than TlOH due to its larger both dipole moment and anisotropic polarizability.

Measurement of the first ionization potential of astatine by laser ionization spectroscopy

The radioactive element astatine exists only in trace amounts in nature. Its properties can therefore only be explored by study of the minute quantities of artificially produced isotopes or by performing theoretical calculations. One of the most important properties influencing the chemical behaviour is the energy required to remove one electron from the valence shell, referred to as the ionization potential. Here we use laser spectroscopy to probe the optical spectrum of astatine near the ionization threshold. The observed series of Rydberg states enabled the first determination of the ionization potential of the astatine atom, 9.31751(8) eV. New ab initio calculations are performed to sup…

Carbonyl compounds of Tc, Re, and Bh: Electronic structure, bonding, and volatility.

Calculations of molecular properties of M(CO)5 and MH(CO)5, where M = Tc, Re, and Bh, and of the products of their decomposition, M(CO)4 and MH(CO)4, were performed using density functional theory and coupled-cluster methods implemented in the relativistic program suits such as ADF, DIRAC, and ReSpect. The calculated first M—CO bond dissociation energies (FBDEs) of Bh(CO)5 and BhH(CO)5 turned out to be significantly weaker than those of the corresponding Re homologs. The reason for that is the relativistic destabilization and expansion of the 6d AOs, responsible for weaker σ-forth and π-back donations in the Bh compounds. The relativistic FBDEs of M(CO)5 have, therefore, a Λ-shape behavior …

On the adsorption and reactivity of element 114, flerovium

Flerovium (Fl, element 114) is the heaviest element chemically studied so far. To date, its interaction with gold was investigated in two gas-solid chromatography experiments, which reported two different types of interaction, however, each based on the level of a few registered atoms only. Whereas noble-gas-like properties were suggested from the first experiment, the second one pointed at a volatile-metal-like character. Here, we present further experimental data on adsorption studies of Fl on silicon oxide and gold surfaces, accounting for the inhomogeneous nature of the surface, as it was used in the experiment and analyzed as part of the reported studies. We confirm that Fl is highly v…

ChemInform Abstract: Solution Chemistry of Element 106: Theoretical Predictions of Hydrolysis of Group 6 Cations Mo, W, and Sg.

Carbonyl compounds of Rh, Ir, and Mt: electronic structure, bonding and volatility

With the aim to render assistance to future experiments on the production and investigation of chemical properties of carbonyl compounds of element 109, Mt, calculations of the molecular properties of M(CO)4 and MH(CO)4, where M = Rh, Ir, and Mt, and of the products of their decomposition, M(CO)3 and MH(CO)3, were performed using relativistic Density Functional Theory and Coupled-Cluster methods implemented in the ADF, ReSpect and DIRAC software suites. According to the results, MH(CO)4 should be formed at experimental conditions from the M atom with a mixture of CO and He gases. The calculated first M–CO bond dissociation energies (FBDE) of Mt(CO)4 and MtH(CO)4 turned out to be significant…

Intermetallic compounds of the heaviest elements: the electronic structure and bonding of dimers of element 112 and its homolog Hg

Abstract Fully relativistic (four-component) density-functional calculations were performed for the element 112 dimers (112)X (X = Pd, Cu, Ag and Au) and those of its lighter homolog, Hg. A relatively small decrease of about 15–20 kJ/mol in bonding was found from the HgX to (112)X compounds. Respectively, the bond lengths were increased by 0.06 A on the average. The Mulliken population analysis has shown this effect to be a result of a decreasing contribution of the relativistically stabilized 7s-AO of element 112 to bonding. The following trend in the binding energies was predicted for (112)X as a function of X: Pd >Cu>Au>Ag, exactly as the trend obtained experimentally for adsorption of H…