The Synthesis and Naming of Elements 110 and Beyond
The Synthesis and Naming of Elements 110 and Beyond
by Herbert Kaesz
A Joint Working Party (JWP) of IUPAC and the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) has published its analysis of the claims for the syntheses of elements 110, 111, and 112 (P.J. Karol, Pure Appl. Chem. Vol. 73, No. 6, pp. 959-967, 2001).
The JWP has given credit for the synthesis of element 110 to a group at the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung in Darmstadt, Germany. This laboratory has thus been invited to propose a name.
As to elements 111 and 112, the Joint Working Party did not feel that sufficient results have, as yet, been presented to assign credit for their discoveries. The difficulties in confirming syntheses of the heaviest elements is illustrated by the announcements in 1999 of the syntheses of elements 116 and 118, claims which were retracted this year. The earlier results could not be reproduced at the originating institution, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, nor at other centers for heavy-element synthesis in Germany and in Japan (Science, 3 Aug. 2001, Vol. 293, pp. 777-778; C&E News, 6 Aug. 2001, p. 10; Darleane Hoffman, private communication).
The JWP's analysis followed a procedure that was earlier established for elements 101-109 because claims of the synthesis of heavy elements can be controversial. Until discoveries are confirmed, elements are provisionally designated in terms expressing their atomic numbers in Latin, for example "ununnilium" (one-one-zero for 110), "unununium" (one-one-one for 111), and "ununbium" (one-one-two for 112). To avoid confusion, discoverers are asked to use an atomic number rather than a name in the literature until approval of a proposed name is received from IUPAC. If a particular name has been used unofficially for a given element but a different name is ultimately chosen, then the first name cannot be transferred at a later time to designate a different element.
A review on the naming of new elements, with a summary of the recommended current procedures, has been prepared by W.H. Koppenol. This document is now available for public review. The steps for arriving at a IUPAC approved name of a new element are illustrated in the table above.
Laboratories engaged in the synthesis of new elements are invited to submit claims and supporting evidence. 
Herbert Kaesz is a professor at the University of California at Los Angeles, California, USA, and is a member of, among others, the Inorganic Chemistry Division Committee.
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Artikel in diesem Heft
- Masthead
- Contents
- Broadening Active Participation in IUPAC Activities
- If IUPAC is to be successful in representing worldwide chemistry, it needs to foster synergistic relationships with the global community of chemists.
- The Bureau International des Poids et Mesures: Establishing Standards in the Physical Sciences
- The kilogram is, today, the only base unit still defined in terms of a material artifact
- The Synthesis and Naming of Elements 110 and Beyond
- Reliable Solubility Data in the Age of Computerized Chemistry: Why, How, and When?
- Modeling, regardless of the discipline, has one common feature: Reliable data are an essential element.
- Breaking Away from the Old Three Ss
- Young Chemists Travel Far with Canadian National Committee Awards
- Chemical Nomenclature and Structure Representation
- Nomenclature of Inorganic Chemistry
- SCOPE/IUPAC International Symposium on Endocrine Active Substances
- Generic Source-Based Nomenclature for Polymers (IUPAC Recommendations 2001)
- Quantum Chemical B3LYP/cc-pvqz Computation of Ground-State Structures and Properties of Small Molecules with Atoms of Z ≤ 18 (Hydrogen to Argon) (IUPAC Technical Report)
- Standards in Isothermal Microcalorimetry (IUPAC Technical Report)
- Critical Evaluation of Stability Constants of Phosphonic Acids (IUPAC Technical Report)
- IUPAC Seeks Your Comments
- Quantities, Terminology, and Symbols in Photothermal and Related Spectroscopies
- The Naming of New Elements
- The Biogeochemistry of Iron in Seawater
- Polymerization Processes and Polymer Materials, Volumes I and II
- Characterization of Compounds in Solution: Theory and Practice
- CRC Handbook of Optical Resolutions via Diastereomeric Salt Formation
- Medicinal Chemistry
- Analytical Sciences
- CAS/IUPAC Conference on Chemical Identifiers and XML for Chemistry 1 July 2002, Columbus, Ohio, USA
- Central European Conference on “Chemistry Towards Biology” 8-12 September 2002, Portoroz, Slovenia
- The Ninth International Conference on Flow Analysis 10-14 February 2003, Geelong, Victoria, Australia
- Conference Announcements in Brief
- Calendar of IUPAC Sponsored Conferences
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Masthead
- Contents
- Broadening Active Participation in IUPAC Activities
- If IUPAC is to be successful in representing worldwide chemistry, it needs to foster synergistic relationships with the global community of chemists.
- The Bureau International des Poids et Mesures: Establishing Standards in the Physical Sciences
- The kilogram is, today, the only base unit still defined in terms of a material artifact
- The Synthesis and Naming of Elements 110 and Beyond
- Reliable Solubility Data in the Age of Computerized Chemistry: Why, How, and When?
- Modeling, regardless of the discipline, has one common feature: Reliable data are an essential element.
- Breaking Away from the Old Three Ss
- Young Chemists Travel Far with Canadian National Committee Awards
- Chemical Nomenclature and Structure Representation
- Nomenclature of Inorganic Chemistry
- SCOPE/IUPAC International Symposium on Endocrine Active Substances
- Generic Source-Based Nomenclature for Polymers (IUPAC Recommendations 2001)
- Quantum Chemical B3LYP/cc-pvqz Computation of Ground-State Structures and Properties of Small Molecules with Atoms of Z ≤ 18 (Hydrogen to Argon) (IUPAC Technical Report)
- Standards in Isothermal Microcalorimetry (IUPAC Technical Report)
- Critical Evaluation of Stability Constants of Phosphonic Acids (IUPAC Technical Report)
- IUPAC Seeks Your Comments
- Quantities, Terminology, and Symbols in Photothermal and Related Spectroscopies
- The Naming of New Elements
- The Biogeochemistry of Iron in Seawater
- Polymerization Processes and Polymer Materials, Volumes I and II
- Characterization of Compounds in Solution: Theory and Practice
- CRC Handbook of Optical Resolutions via Diastereomeric Salt Formation
- Medicinal Chemistry
- Analytical Sciences
- CAS/IUPAC Conference on Chemical Identifiers and XML for Chemistry 1 July 2002, Columbus, Ohio, USA
- Central European Conference on “Chemistry Towards Biology” 8-12 September 2002, Portoroz, Slovenia
- The Ninth International Conference on Flow Analysis 10-14 February 2003, Geelong, Victoria, Australia
- Conference Announcements in Brief
- Calendar of IUPAC Sponsored Conferences
