Speaker
Dr
Yuichiro Nagame
(Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Japan)
Description
Chemical characterization of the heaviest elements in aqueous-phase experiments is performed by a partition method with single atoms, e.g., liquid-liquid extraction, ion-exchange chromatography, and reversed-phase extraction chromatography. In these processes, the behavior of the heaviest elements is compared with that of its lighter homologues under strictly identical conditions. Several investigations have been carried out with automated rapid chemical separation apparatuses to characterize chemical properties of the heaviest elements. Typically interesting results recently obtained are that fluoride complex formation of element 104, Rf, is significantly different from that of the homologues, and that anionic fluoride complexation of element 105, Db, is considerably different from that of the group-5 homologue Ta while the behavior of Db is similar to that of the lighter homologue Nb.
Development of a new apparatus based on flow electrolytic column chromatography combined with ion-exchange separation has been recently carried out. Oxidation of element 102, No, has been successfully conducted based on an atom-at-a-time scale. This approach will lead to new frontiers of aqueous-phase chemistry of the heaviest elements; information on valence electronic structure of the heaviest elements through redox potentials will be obtained. Prospects for the future studies on redox properties of the heaviest elements will be briefly considered.
Author
Dr
Yuichiro Nagame
(Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Japan)
