Einsteinium, the elusive 99th element of the periodic table, has been created and captured, allowing us to characterize some of its properties for the first time.
Because it does not occur naturally on Earth, the so-called “synthetic element” was first discovered among the debris of the first hydrogen bomb in 1952.
Since then, very few experiments have been performed with einsteinium, because it is exceptionally radioactive and extremely difficult to produce.
However, researchers in the United States have used cutting-edge technology to create 250 nanograms of the element.
This basic property determines how einsteinium will bind to other atoms and molecules and is key to understanding the type of chemical interactions it may have.
Einsteinium has been created and captured, the elusive 99th element of the periodic table, which allows to characterize some of its properties for the first time
Not naturally existing on earth, the so-called “synthetic element” was first discovered among the remains of the first hydrogen bomb (pictured), codenamed “Ivy Mike” in 1952.
“Not much is known about einsteinium,” said Rebecca Abergel, author of the paper and heavy-element chemistry at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California.
“It is a remarkable success that we were able to work with this small amount of material and make inorganic chemistry.
“It simply came to our notice then [einsteinium’s] Chemical behavior, the more we can apply this understanding to the development of new materials or new technologies. ‘
This, he explained, could help not only to find directly applications of einsteinium, but also to the rest of actinides, the block of 15 metallic and radioactive elements with atomic numbers between 89 and 103.
At the same time, the new findings could also help chemists identify new trends within the elements that make up the periodic table.
In his study, Professor Abergel and colleagues produced their einsteinium sample in the so-called high-flow isotope reactor at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, one of the few facilities Of the world capable of manufacturing the element.
The material was made by bombarding curio (another element of the radioactive actinide series) with neutrons to trigger a long chain of nuclear reactions that eventually produces the desired einsteinium.
Making significant amounts of pure einsteini, however, is extraordinarily difficult and the equipment sample ended up contaminated with a california.
This prevented them from using X-ray crystallography (the gold standard for structural information on highly radioactive molecules) in their sample, forcing them to develop new approaches and tools to study their einsteinium.
A second problem arose as a result of COVID-19, the pandemic that forced the team to close the lab before it could complete many of its follow-up experiments planned in the sample.
Although they produced one of the most stable isotopes of einsteinium, it only had a “half-life” (the time it took half the material to decay into something else) of 276 days, which means that much of the his sample had disappeared they returned.
EINSTEINIUM: THE BASICS
Pictured is a 300 microgram sample of einsteinium, stored in a quartz flask
Einsteinium is a soft, silver metallic element with the symbol ‘Es’ and an atomic number of 99 (i.e., the nucleus contains 99 protons).
Like all other elements in the so-called “actinide series,” it is extremely radioactive.
When viewed in the dark (as shown in the image on the left), einsteini samples are seen glowing blue.
It was first detected following the first hydrogen bomb in 1952.
As a so-called “synthetic element”, einsteinium is not found naturally on Earth. Currently, it has not found any application outside of basic scientific research.
It was named in honor of the physicist Albert Einstein.
Since then, very few experiments have been performed with einsteinium, because it is exceptionally radioactive and extremely difficult to produce. However, researchers in the United States (pictured) used cutting-edge technology to create 250 nanograms of the element.
However, the researchers were able to subject their einsteine sample to analysis with luminescence spectroscopy and X-ray absorption spectroscopy, revealing both the bond distance and some other properties of the element.
“Determining the bond distance may not seem interesting, but it’s the first thing you’d like to know about how a metal binds to other molecules,” Professor Abergel explained.
Understanding how atoms can be arranged in a molecule containing einsteinium can give scientists an idea of the chemical properties of these molecules and improve understanding of chemical trends across the periodic table.
“By obtaining this data, we gain a better and broader understanding of how the entire actinide series behaves,” Professor Abergel said.
“And in this series, we have elements or isotopes that are useful for nuclear or radiopharmaceutical energy production.”
The findings, Professor Abergel explained, could help not only to find directly applications of einsteinium, but also to other actinides: the block of 15 metallic and radioactive elements with atomic numbers between 89 and 103 (in the green image)
Working with einsteinium also brings about the possibility of exploring the chemistry that lies beyond the edge of the current periodic table and possibly even the discovery of a completely new element.
“We’re really starting to understand a little bit better what’s going on at the end of the periodic table, and the next thing is, you could also imagine a goal of einsteini to discover new elements,” Professor Abergel explained.
“Similar to the last elements that were discovered in the last ten years, like Tennessee, which used a berkeli target, if you could isolate enough pure einsteini to do so, you could start looking for other elements.”
This, he added, could bring us closer to the theorized “stability island,” where nuclear physicists predict that isotopes may have a half-life of minutes or days, as opposed to the microseconds or less of half-life that are commonly found. between the superheavy elements.
The full findings of the study were published in the journal Nature.