The periodic table provides a classification of the chemical properties of the elements. But for the heaviest elements, the transactinides, this role of the periodic table reaches its limits because increasingly strong relativistic effects on the valence electron shells can induce deviations from known trends in chemical properties. In the case of the first two transactinides, elements 104 and 105, relativistic effects do indeed influence their chemical properties, whereas elements 106 and 107 both behave as expected from their position within the periodic table. Here we report the chemical separation and characterization of only seven detected atoms of element 108 (hassium, Hs), which were generated as isotopes (269)Hs (refs 8, 9) and (270)Hs (ref. 10) in the fusion reaction between (26)Mg and (248)Cm. The hassium atoms are immediately oxidized to a highly volatile oxide, presumably HsO(4), for which we determine an enthalpy of adsorption on our detector surface that is comparable to the adsorption enthalpy determined under identical conditions for the osmium oxide OsO(4). These results provide evidence that the chemical properties of hassium and its lighter homologue osmium are similar, thus confirming that hassium exhibits properties as expected from its position in group 8 of the periodic table.

The number of chemical elements has increased considerably in the last few decades. Most excitingly, these heaviest, man‐made elements at the far‐end of the Periodic Table are located in the area of the long‐awaited superheavy elements. While physical techniques currently play a leading role in these discoveries, the chemistry of superheavy elements is now beginning to be developed. Advanced and very sensitive techniques allow the chemical properties of these elusive elements to be probed. Often, less than ten short‐lived atoms, chemically separated one‐atom‐at‐a‐time, provide crucial information on basic chemical properties. These results place the architecture of the far‐end of the Periodic Table on the test bench and probe the increasingly strong relativistic effects that influence the chemical properties there. This review is focused mainly on the experimental work on superheavy element chemistry. It contains a short contribution on relativistic theory, and some important historical and nuclear aspects.

Spectroscopy of Element 115 Decay Chains

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