Editing Meitnerium (section)

==Experimental chemistry==
Meitnerium is the first element on the periodic table whose chemistry has not yet been investigated. Unambiguous determination of the chemical characteristics of meitnerium has yet to have been established<ref name="Düllmann">{{cite journal |last1=Düllmann |first1=Christoph E. |date=2012 |title=Superheavy elements at GSI: a broad research program with element 114 in the focus of physics and chemistry |journal=Radiochimica Acta |volume=100 |issue=2 |pages=67–74 |doi=10.1524/ract.2011.1842 |s2cid=100778491 }}</ref><ref name="Mt-chemistry" /> due to the short half-lives of meitnerium isotopes<ref name="Haire" /> and a limited number of likely [[volatility (chemistry)|volatile]] compounds that could be studied on a very small scale. One of the few meitnerium compounds that are likely to be sufficiently volatile is meitnerium hexafluoride ({{chem|MtF|6}}), as its lighter homologue [[iridium hexafluoride]] ({{chem|IrF|6}}) is volatile above 60&nbsp;°C and therefore the analogous compound of meitnerium might also be sufficiently volatile;<ref name="DoiX" /> a volatile [[octafluoride]] ({{chem|MtF|8}}) might also be possible.<ref name="Haire" /> For chemical studies to be carried out on a [[transactinide element|transactinide]], at least four atoms must be produced, the half-life of the isotope used must be at least 1&nbsp;second, and the rate of production must be at least one atom per week.<ref name="DoiX" /> Even though the half-life of <sup>278</sup>Mt, the most stable confirmed meitnerium isotope, is 4.5&nbsp;seconds, long enough to perform chemical studies, another obstacle is the need to increase the rate of production of meitnerium isotopes and allow experiments to carry on for weeks or months so that statistically significant results can be obtained. Separation and detection must be carried out continuously to separate out the meitnerium isotopes and have automated systems experiment on the gas-phase and solution chemistry of meitnerium, as the yields for heavier elements are predicted to be smaller than those for lighter elements; some of the separation techniques used for [[bohrium]] and [[hassium]] could be reused. However, the experimental chemistry of meitnerium has not received as much attention as that of the heavier elements from [[copernicium]] to [[livermorium]].<ref name="Haire" /><ref name="Düllmann" /><ref name="Eichler">{{cite journal |last=Eichler |first=Robert |date=2013 |title=First foot prints of chemistry on the shore of the Island of Superheavy Elements |journal=Journal of Physics: Conference Series |publisher=IOP Science |volume=420 |issue=1 |pages=012003 |doi=10.1088/1742-6596/420/1/012003 |arxiv=1212.4292 |bibcode=2013JPhCS.420a2003E |s2cid=55653705 }}</ref>

The [[Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory]] attempted to synthesize the isotope <sup>271</sup>Mt in 2002–2003 for a possible chemical investigation of meitnerium, because it was expected that it might be more stable than nearby isotopes due to having 162 [[neutron]]s, a [[magic number (physics)|magic number]] for deformed nuclei; its half-life was predicted to be a few seconds, long enough for a chemical investigation.<ref name="Haire" /><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Smolańczuk |first1=R. |date=1997 |journal=Phys. Rev. C |volume=56 |pages=812–24|doi=10.1103/PhysRevC.56.812 |title=Properties of the hypothetical spherical superheavy nuclei |issue=2|bibcode = 1997PhRvC..56..812S }}</ref><ref name="EvenInSitu" /> However, no atoms of <sup>271</sup>Mt were detected;<ref name="GSI2003">Zielinski P. M. et al. (2003). [http://www.gsi.de/informationen/wti/library/scientificreport2003/files/2.pdf "The search for <sup>271</sup>Mt via the reaction <sup>238</sup>U + <sup>37</sup>Cl"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120206214022/http://www.gsi.de/informationen/wti/library/scientificreport2003/files/2.pdf |date=2012-02-06 }}, ''GSI Annual report''. Retrieved on 2008-03-01</ref> this isotope of meitnerium is currently unknown.<ref name="nuclidetable" />

An experiment determining the chemical properties of a transactinide would need to compare a compound of that transactinide with analogous compounds of some of its lighter homologues:<ref name="Haire" /> for example, in the chemical characterization of hassium, hassium tetroxide (HsO<sub>4</sub>) was compared with the analogous [[osmium]] compound, [[osmium tetroxide]] (OsO<sub>4</sub>).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://lch.web.psi.ch/files/anrep01/B-03heavies.pdf |title=Chemical investigation of hassium (Hs, Z=108) |author=Düllmann, Ch. E for a Univ. Bern – PSI – GSI – JINR – LBNL – Univ. Mainz – FZR – IMP – collaboration |access-date=15 October 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202092852/http://lch.web.psi.ch/files/anrep01/B-03heavies.pdf |archive-date=2 February 2014 }}</ref> In a preliminary step towards determining the chemical properties of meitnerium, the GSI attempted [[sublimation (phase transition)|sublimation]] of the rhodium compounds [[rhodium(III) oxide]] (Rh<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>) and [[rhodium(III) chloride]] (RhCl<sub>3</sub>). However, macroscopic amounts of the oxide would not sublimate until 1000&nbsp;°C and the chloride would not until 780&nbsp;°C, and then only in the presence of [[carbon]] aerosol particles: these temperatures are far too high for such procedures to be used on meitnerium, as most of the current methods used for the investigation of the chemistry of superheavy elements do not work above 500&nbsp;°C.<ref name="Mt-chemistry">{{cite web |url=http://lch.web.psi.ch/files/anrep01/B-06heavies.pdf |title=Thermatographic investigation of Rh and <sup>107</sup>Rh with different carrier gases |author=Haenssler, F. L. |author2=Düllmann, Ch. E. |author3=Gäggeler, H. W. |author4=Eichler, B |access-date=15 October 2012 }}{{dead link|date=July 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

Following the 2014 successful synthesis of seaborgium hexacarbonyl, Sg(CO)<sub>6</sub>,<ref name="carbonyl">{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1126/science.1255720| pmid = 25237098| title = Synthesis and detection of a seaborgium carbonyl complex| journal = Science| volume = 345| issue = 6203| pages = 1491–3| year = 2014| last1 = Even | first1 = J.| last2 = Yakushev | first2 = A.| last3 = Dullmann | first3 = C. E.| last4 = Haba | first4 = H.| last5 = Asai | first5 = M.| last6 = Sato | first6 = T. K.| last7 = Brand | first7 = H.| last8 = Di Nitto | first8 = A.| last9 = Eichler | first9 = R.| last10 = Fan | first10 = F. L.| last11 = Hartmann | first11 = W.| last12 = Huang | first12 = M.| last13 = Jager | first13 = E.| last14 = Kaji | first14 = D.| last15 = Kanaya | first15 = J.| last16 = Kaneya | first16 = Y.| last17 = Khuyagbaatar | first17 = J.| last18 = Kindler | first18 = B.| last19 = Kratz | first19 = J. V.| last20 = Krier | first20 = J.| last21 = Kudou | first21 = Y.| last22 = Kurz | first22 = N.| last23 = Lommel | first23 = B.| last24 = Miyashita | first24 = S.| last25 = Morimoto | first25 = K.| last26 = Morita | first26 = K.| last27 = Murakami | first27 = M.| last28 = Nagame | first28 = Y.| last29 = Nitsche | first29 = H.| last30 = Ooe | first30 = K.| display-authors = 29| bibcode = 2014Sci...345.1491E| s2cid = 206558746}} {{subscription required}}</ref> studies were conducted with the stable transition metals of groups 7 through 9, suggesting that carbonyl formation could be extended to further probe the chemistries of the early 6d transition metals from rutherfordium to meitnerium inclusive.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Loveland |first=Walter |date=19 September 2014 |title=Superheavy carbonyls |journal=Science |volume=345 |issue=6203 |pages=1451–2 |doi= 10.1126/science.1259349|pmid=25237088 |bibcode=2014Sci...345.1451L |s2cid=35139846 }}</ref><ref>{{cite conference |url=http://www.epj-conferences.org/articles/epjconf/pdf/2016/26/epjconf-NS160-07008.pdf |title=Chemistry aided nuclear physics studies |last1=Even |first1=Julia |date=2016 |conference=Nobel Symposium NS160 – Chemistry and Physics of Heavy and Superheavy Elements |doi=10.1051/epjconf/201613107008 |doi-access=free |access-date=March 30, 2017 |archive-date=March 31, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170331030150/http://www.epj-conferences.org/articles/epjconf/pdf/2016/26/epjconf-NS160-07008.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Nevertheless, the challenges of low half-lives and difficult production reactions make meitnerium difficult to access for radiochemists, though the isotopes <sup>278</sup>Mt and <sup>276</sup>Mt are long-lived enough for chemical research and may be produced in the decay chains of <sup>294</sup>[[tennessine|Ts]] and <sup>288</sup>[[moscovium|Mc]] respectively. <sup>276</sup>Mt is likely more suitable, since producing tennessine requires a rare and rather short-lived [[berkelium]] target.<ref name="Moody">{{cite book |chapter=Synthesis of Superheavy Elements |last1=Moody |first1=Ken |editor1-first=Matthias |editor1-last=Schädel |editor2-first=Dawn |editor2-last=Shaughnessy |title=The Chemistry of Superheavy Elements |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |edition=2nd |pages=24–8 |isbn=9783642374661|date=November 30, 2013 }}</ref> The isotope <sup>270</sup>Mt, observed in the decay chain of <sup>278</sup>Nh with a half-life of 0.69 seconds, may also be sufficiently long-lived for chemical investigations, though a direct synthesis route leading to this isotope and more precise measurements of its decay properties would be required.<ref name="EvenInSitu">{{cite journal |last=Even |first=J. |display-authors=et al. <!--49 co-authors omitted--> |date=2015 |title=In situ synthesis of volatile carbonyl complexes with short-lived nuclides |journal=Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry |volume=303 |issue=3 |pages=2457–2466 |doi=10.1007/s10967-014-3793-7 |bibcode=2015JRNC..303.2457E |s2cid=94969336 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273831463}}</ref>