Chemistry of superheavy elements

Schdel, M.

The chemistry of superheavy elements is summarized. After giving an overview over historical developments, nuclear aspects about synthesis of these elements and their nuclear decay properties are briefly mentioned. Specific requirements to cope with the one-atom-at-a-time situation in automated chemical separations and recent developments are presented. Current developments and future prospects of chemical separations behind physical recoil separators are discussed in detail. The status of our current knowledge about the chemistry of rutherfordium (Rf, element 104), dubnium (Db, element 105), seaborgium (Sg, element 106), bohrium (Bh, element 107), hassium (Hs, element 108), copernicium (Cn, element 112), and element 114 is discussed from an experimental point of view. Recent results are emphasized and compared with empirical extrapolations and with fully-relativistic theoretical calculations, especially also under the aspect of the architecture of the Periodic Table.