Ununoctium

Ununoctium (eka-radon) is the temporary name of an undiscovered synthetic superheavy element in the periodic table that has the temporary symbol Uuo and has the atomic number 118. It would probably share the properties of its group, the noble gases, resembling radon in its chemical properties; as such, some research has referred to it as "eka-radon". It would be the second radioactive gaseous element and the first standard semiconductive gas.

Ignoring instability due to likely radioactivity, scientists would expect that:-

Ununoctium would be much more chemically reactive than xenon and radon. It likely would form stable oxides (UuoO₃ etc) as well as chlorides and fluorides. However, its radioactivity means that, like radon, few compounds can be expected to form.
If ununoctium were reasonably common in nature and if it formed a stable oxide, Uuo would likely occur as an oxide mineral and not as the gas.

History

In 1999, researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory announced the discovery of elements 116 and 118, in a paper published in Physical Review Letters. The researchers claimed to have performed the reaction:

${249 \atop 98}\mathrm{Cf}+{48 \atop 20}\mathrm{Ca}\quad\rightarrow\quad{294 \atop 118}\mathrm{Uuo}+3{1 \atop 0}\mathrm{n} \;$

The following year, they published a retraction after other researchers were unable to duplicate the results. In June 2002, the director of the lab announced that the original claim of the discovery of these two elements had been based on data fabricated by principal author Victor Ninov.

Ununoctium is a temporary IUPAC systematic element name. The American group had intended to name it "ghiorsium" after Albert Ghiorso before having to retract their claim.

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Chemical elements | Noble gases

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History

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