Prospects of Ion Chemical Reactions with Heavy Elements in the Gas Phase

Abstract

Heavy element chemistry is related to the fundamental interest that lies in exploring the upper limits of the periodic table. Chemical properties of the heaviest elements have already been studied at single atoms in aqueous solutions and in the gas phase up to an atomic number Z = 107. These techniques allow to study nuclides with half lives as short as about 1 s. Next generation chemistry experiments could be envisaged with an ion trap technique already developed for stable isotopes. At very low production rates in the order of 1 per 100 s and/or half lives as short as about 10 ms, the ion-molecule reactions can be studied in a buffer gas cell, in which the heavy elements are stopped and thermalize with a high probability as singly charged ions. Ion-molecule reactions with well defined buffer gas admixtures, as, e.g., O2, H2O, CH4, CO2, are identified by mass selective detection.