TABLE OF CONTENTS J.V.Kratz
Institut f r Kernchemie, Johannes Gutenberg Universit t, 55128 Mainz, Germany
In this chapter, the chemical properties of the man-made transactinide elements rutherfordium, Rf (element 104), dubnium, Db (element 105), seaborgium, Sg (element 106), bohrium, Bh (element 107), and hassium, Hs (element 108), are reviewed, and prospects for chemical characterizations of even heavier elements are discussed. The experimental methods to perform rapid chemical separations on the time scale of seconds are presented and comments are given on the special situation with the transactinides where chemistry has to be studied with single atoms. It follows a description of theoretical predictions and selected experimental results on the chemistry of elements 104 through 108.
At present, we know more than 20 man-made transuranium elements. The first 11 artificial elements beyond uranium belong to the actinide series. Their chemistry is documented in a number of review articles and books (see, e.g., Katz et al. 1986, Seaborg et al. 1990, Seaborg 1993, Seaborg 1995). According to the actinide concept (Seaborg 1945), the 5f series ends with lawrencium, Lr (element 103), and a new 6d transition series is predicted to begin with rutherfordium, Rf (element 104) (see, e.g., Fricke et al. 1969). Hence, the currently known transactinide elements 104 through 112 have been placed in the Periodic Table under their lighter homologs in the 5d series Hf, Ta, W, Re, Os, Ir, Pt, Au, and Hg. Evidence for elements 114 and 116 reported by the Dubna laboratory (Oganessian et al.
