Fast isolation of short-lived osmium isotopes by nickel-potassium hexacyanoferrate

Abstract

All experimental findings focusing on the chemistry of elements 104 (Rf) and 105 (Db) indicate that these elements form the first and the second elements of transactinide group (TAE). A complete review concerning about the chemical properties of Rf and Db is given.1 The currently known nine transactinide elements are placed in the Periodic Table under their lighter homologs of the 5d series: Hf, Ta, W, Re, Os, Ir, Pt, Au and Hg. Because of the transactinides considerably short halflives and low cross section values for their formation, the development of fast and effective isolation methods is needed. Isolation procedures of the elements from products of nuclear reactions are based on extraction and ion-exchange phenomenons. The discovery of the relatively long-lived element 114 (T1/2 ≈ 30 s) suggests that chemical studies of elements Z≥107 would be feasible in solution.2–4 Moreover, developing separation and identification methods of the heaviest elements allow to know the behavior of their decay chains descendants, as for instance: