Production and chemistry of transactinide elements

Nagame, Yuichiro ; Haba, Hiromitsu*

This article gives a brief summary of the reported syntheses and nuclear properties of the transactinide elements as well as chemical investigation of those elements. Experimental techniques of single atom detection after in-flight separation with electromagnetic separators have made a breakthrough in production and identification of new transactinide nuclides. Development of automated rapid chemical separation techniques based on one atom-at-a-time scale has also considerably contributed to the progress of chemical studies of the transactinide elements. Some key experiments exploring new frontiers of the production and chemical characterization of the transactinide elements as well as the state of the art in these experimental studies are demonstrated. Prospects of extending nuclear and chemical studies of the heaviest elements in near future are shortly considered.