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On the Discovery of New Elements (IUPAC/IUPAP Provisional Report)

Published/Copyright: January 7, 2019
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Chemistry International
From the journal Chemistry International Volume 41 Issue 1

Sigurd Hofmann, Sergey N. Dmitriev, Claes Fahlander, Jacklyn M. Gates, James B. Roberto and Hideyuki Sakai

Pure and Applied Chemistry2018Volume 90, Issue 11, pp. 1773-1832

Almost thirty years ago the criteria that are currently used to verify claims for the discovery of a new element were set down by the comprehensive work of a Transfermium Working Group, TWG, jointly established by IUPAC and the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP). The recent completion of the naming of the 118 elements in the first seven periods of the Periodic Table of the Elements was considered as an opportunity for a review of these criteria in the light of the experimental and theoretical advances in the field. In late 2016 the Unions decided to establish a new Joint Working Group, JWG, consisting of six members determined by the Unions. A first meeting of the JWG was in May 2017. One year later this report was finished. In a first part the works and conclusions of the TWG and the Joint Working Parties, JWP, decisions on the discovery of the now named elements are summarized. Possible experimental developments for production and identification of new elements beyond the presently known ones are estimated. Criteria and guidelines for establishing priority of discovery of these potential new elements are presented. Special emphasis is given to a description for the application of the criteria and the limits for their applicability.

In accordance with the Terms of Reference under which the JWG was established, this report has been provisionally accepted by IUPAC and IUPAP, and is open for comment for 5 months. Comments should be directed to Zhou Qifeng <>, President of IUPAC and to Kennedy Reed <>, President of IUPAP, and will be accepted up to 31 March 2019.

https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2018-0918

Published Online: 2019-01-07
Published in Print: 2019-01-01

©2019 IUPAC & De Gruyter. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. For more information, please visit: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

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  2. Introduction
  3. The International Year of the Periodic Table 2019
  4. Features
  5. IUPAC and the Periodic Table
  6. Criteria for New Element Discovery: Providing Assurance in a Field of Allure and Romance
  7. Looking Backwards and Forwards at the Development of the Periodic Table
  8. Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights: History of IUPAC Commission II.1 in the ­Service of Chemistry
  9. Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights: IUPAC Commission II.1 Today
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https://doi.org/10.1515/ci-2019-0119

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Masthead - Full issue pdf
  2. Introduction
  3. The International Year of the Periodic Table 2019
  4. Features
  5. IUPAC and the Periodic Table
  6. Criteria for New Element Discovery: Providing Assurance in a Field of Allure and Romance
  7. Looking Backwards and Forwards at the Development of the Periodic Table
  8. Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights: History of IUPAC Commission II.1 in the ­Service of Chemistry
  9. Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights: IUPAC Commission II.1 Today
  10. Isotopes Matter
  11. The New SI: The International System of Units is getting a Makeover
  12. IUPAC Wire
  13. Election of IUPAC Officers and Bureau Members—Call for Nominations
  14. Juris Meija Made the Top 40 Under 40
  15. C. Oliver Kappe is Awarded the 2018 IUPAC-ThalesNano Prize for Flow Chemistry
  16. OPCW to Further Enhance Contributions to United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals
  17. 1001 Inventions: Journeys from Alchemy to Chemistry
  18. Stamps International
  19. Olympic Gold
  20. Project Place
  21. Critical Evaluation of Homogeneous Equilibrium and Solubility Constants of Gadolinium in Environmental and Biological-Relevant Conditions
  22. 23rd UNESCO/IUPAC Postgraduate Course in Polymer Science
  23. Guidance for the Compilation, Critical Evaluation and Dissemination of Chemical Data
  24. Making an imPACt
  25. IUPAC Periodic Table of the Elements and Isotopes (IPTEI) for the Education Community (IUPAC Technical Report)
  26. On the Discovery of New Elements (IUPAC/IUPAP Provisional Report)
  27. Bookworm
  28. Chemistry: Our Past, Present, and Future
  29. Conference Call
  30. Solution Chemistry
  31. Organometallic Chemistry and Challenges in CO2 Activation and Utilization
  32. Congreso Latino Americano de Química
  33. Energetic Materials
  34. Where 2B & Y
  35. Setting their Table: Women and the Periodic Table of Elements
  36. FAIR Publishing Guidelines for Spectral Data and Chemical Structures
  37. Croatian Meeting of Chemists and Chemical Engineers and 4th Vladimir Prelog Symposium
  38. IUPAC For Africa—Postgraduate Summer School on Green Chemistry
  39. In Honor of IUPAC’s 100th Anniversary
  40. Mark Your Calendar
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