Chemistry of the transactinide elements

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Abstract Some of the challenges involved in the study of the short-lived isotopes of the transactinides which can only be produced an “atom-at-a-time” are considered, and the types of experiments are discussed. Elements 104 and 105 behave as members of groups 4 and 5, as expected. However, deviations of the chemical properties from expectations based on simple extrapolations have been observed: for example, the volatility of element 104 chlorides is intermediate between that of Zr and Hf chlorides, and the volatility of element 105 bromides is less than that of Nb and Ta bromides. In aqueous solution, at times, element 104 behaves more like Pu 4+ than Zr 4+ and Hf + , and element 105 exhibits a non-Ta-like behaviour and similarity to Pa 5+ and Nb 5+ . Relativistic molecular calculations are being performed in order to gain an understanding of this complex chemistry.