Gas-Phase Ion Chemistry of Heavy Elements

The starting point for the involvement of the Berlin group in the topic of relativistic effects was the experimental detection of the elusive gold(I) fluoride, whose existence had been conjectured by theory, but had not so far been seen experimentally. In a collaborative effort with Klapbtke and co-workers we were able to unambiguously establish the existence of AuF as a long-lived molecule in the gas phase by mass spectrometric means (Schroder et al. 1994a,b). Almost simultaneously, Schwerdtfeger 

Relativistic Effects in Heavy-Element Chemistry and Physics. Edited by B. A. Hess 2003 John Wiley Sons Ltd 

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Rutherfordium (Z = 104) cannot be produced directly in " Ca-induced reactions, as it would require a polonium target. The isotopes Rf (Jin. — 160 s) and Rf Ty2 — 1.3 h) are the terminating SF activities of the decay chains derived from and Fl, produced in " Pu(" Ca,xn) reactions with x = 5 and X = 3, respectively [8, 316, 353]. Rf activities produced in hot-fusion reactions with lighter heavy ions with much higher cross sections are generally more appropriate for radiochemical experiments (see Liquid-Phase Chemistry of Superheavy Elements and Gas-Phase Chemistry of Superheavy Elements ). However, the long half-life of Rf may provide the means for previously unexplored radiochemical investigations. 

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