Synthetic element
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Synthetic elements
Rare radioactive natural elements; often produced artificially
Common radioactive natural elements
A synthetic element is a known chemical element that does not occur naturally on Earth: it has been created by human manipulation of fundamental particles in a nuclear reactor, a particle accelerator, or the explosion of an atomic bomb; thus, it is called "synthetic", "artificial", or "man-made". The synthetic elements are those with atomic numbers 95–118, as shown in purple on the accompanying periodic table:[1] these 24 elements were first created between 1944 and 2010. The mechanism for the creation of a synthetic element is to force additional protons into the nucleus of an element with an atomic number lower than 95. All known (see: Island of stability) synthetic elements are unstable, but they decay at widely varying rates; the half-lives of their longest-lived isotopes range from microseconds to millions of years.
Five more elements that were first created artificially are strictly speaking not synthetic because they were later found in nature in trace quantities: technetium (43Tc), promethium (61Pm), astatine (85At), neptunium (93Np), and plutonium (94Pu); although they are sometimes classified as synthetic alongside exclusively artificial elements.[2] The first, technetium, was created in 1937.[3] Plutonium, first synthesized in 1940, is another such element. It is the element with the largest number of protons (atomic number) to occur in nature, but it does so in such tiny quantities that it is far more practical to synthesize it. Plutonium is known mainly for its use in atomic bombs and nuclear reactors.[4]
No elements with atomic numbers greater than 99 have any uses outside of scientific research, since they have extremely short half-lives, and thus have never been produced in large quantities.
Properties
[edit]All elements with atomic number greater than 94 decay quickly enough into lighter elements such that any atoms of these that may have existed when the Earth formed (about 4.6 billion years ago) have long since decayed.[5][6] Synthetic elements now present on Earth are the product of atomic bombs or experiments that involve nuclear reactors or particle accelerators, via nuclear fusion or neutron absorption.[7]
Atomic mass for natural elements is based on weighted average abundance of natural isotopes in Earth's crust and atmosphere. For synthetic elements, there is no "natural isotope abundance". Therefore, for synthetic elements the total nucleon count (protons plus neutrons) of the most stable isotope, i.e., the isotope with the longest half-life—is listed in brackets as the atomic mass.
History
[edit]Technetium
[edit]The first element to be synthesized, rather than discovered in nature, was technetium in 1937.[8] This discovery filled a gap in the periodic table, and the fact that technetium has no stable isotopes explains its natural absence on Earth (and the gap).[9] With the longest-lived isotope of technetium, 97Tc, having a 4.21-million-year half-life,[10] no technetium remains from the formation of the Earth.[11][12] Only minute traces of technetium occur naturally in Earth's crust—as a product of spontaneous fission of 238U, or from neutron capture in molybdenum—but technetium is present naturally in red giant stars.[13][14][15][16]
Curium
[edit]The first entirely synthetic element to be made was curium, synthesized in 1944 by Glenn T. Seaborg, Ralph A. James, and Albert Ghiorso by bombarding plutonium with alpha particles.[17][18]
Eight others
[edit]Synthesis of americium, berkelium, and californium followed soon. Einsteinium and fermium were discovered by a team of scientists led by Albert Ghiorso in 1952 while studying the composition of radioactive debris from the detonation of the first hydrogen bomb.[19] The isotopes synthesized were einsteinium-253, with a half-life of 20.5 days, and fermium-255, with a half-life of about 20 hours. The creation of mendelevium, nobelium, and lawrencium followed.
Rutherfordium and dubnium
[edit]During the height of the Cold War, teams from the Soviet Union and the United States independently created rutherfordium and dubnium. The naming and credit for synthesis of these elements remained unresolved for many years, but eventually, shared credit was recognized by IUPAC/IUPAP in 1992. In 1997, IUPAC decided to give dubnium its current name, honoring the city of Dubna where the Russian team worked since American-chosen names had already been used for many existing synthetic elements, while the name rutherfordium (chosen by the American team) was accepted for element 104.
The last thirteen
[edit]Meanwhile, the American team had created seaborgium, and the next six elements had been created by a German team: bohrium, hassium, meitnerium, darmstadtium, roentgenium, and copernicium. Element 113, nihonium, was created by a Japanese team; the last five known elements, flerovium, moscovium, livermorium, tennessine, and oganesson, were created by Russian–American collaborations and complete the seventh row of the periodic table.
List of synthetic elements
[edit]The following elements do not occur naturally on Earth. All are transuranium elements and have atomic numbers of 95 and higher.
| Element name | Chemical Symbol |
Atomic Number |
First definite synthesis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Americium | Am | 95 | 1944 |
| Curium | Cm | 96 | 1944 |
| Berkelium | Bk | 97 | 1949 |
| Californium | Cf | 98 | 1950 |
| Einsteinium | Es | 99 | 1952 |
| Fermium | Fm | 100 | 1952 |
| Mendelevium | Md | 101 | 1955 |
| Nobelium | No | 102 | 1965 |
| Lawrencium | Lr | 103 | 1961 |
| Rutherfordium | Rf | 104 | 1969 (USSR and US) * |
| Dubnium | Db | 105 | 1970 (USSR and US) * |
| Seaborgium | Sg | 106 | 1974 |
| Bohrium | Bh | 107 | 1981 |
| Hassium | Hs | 108 | 1984 |
| Meitnerium | Mt | 109 | 1982 |
| Darmstadtium | Ds | 110 | 1994 |
| Roentgenium | Rg | 111 | 1994 |
| Copernicium | Cn | 112 | 1996 |
| Nihonium | Nh | 113 | 2003–04 |
| Flerovium | Fl | 114 | 1999 |
| Moscovium | Mc | 115 | 2003 |
| Livermorium | Lv | 116 | 2000 |
| Tennessine | Ts | 117 | 2009 |
| Oganesson | Og | 118 | 2002 |
| * Shared credit for discovery. | |||
Other elements usually produced through synthesis
[edit]All elements with atomic numbers 1 through 94 occur naturally at least in trace quantities, but the following elements are often produced through synthesis.
| Element name | Chemical symbol |
Atomic number |
First definite discovery |
Discovery in nature |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Technetium‡ | Tc | 43 | 1937 | 1962 |
| Promethium‡ | Pm | 61 | 1945 | 1965[20] |
| Polonium | Po | 84 | 1898 | |
| Astatine‡ | At | 85 | 1940 | 1943 |
| Francium | Fr | 87 | 1939 | |
| Radium | Ra | 88 | 1898 | |
| Actinium | Ac | 89 | 1902 | |
| Protactinium | Pa | 91 | 1913 | |
| Neptunium‡ | Np | 93 | 1940 | 1952 |
| Plutonium‡ | Pu | 94 | 1940 | 1941–42[21] |
‡ These five elements were discovered through synthesis before being found in nature.
References
[edit]- ^ Kulkarni, Mayuri (15 June 2009). "A Complete List of Man-made Synthetic Elements". ScienceStuck. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
- ^ See periodic table here for example.
- ^ "WebElements Periodic Table » Technetium » historical information". www.webelements.com. Webelements. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
- ^ Bradford, Alina (8 December 2016). "Facts About Plutonium". LiveScience. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
- ^ Redd, Nola (November 2016). "How Was Earth Formed?". Space.com. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
- ^ "Synthetic elements". Infoplease. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
- ^ Kulkarni, Mayuri (15 June 2009). "A Complete List of Man-made Synthetic Elements". ScienceStuck. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
- ^ Helmenstine, Anne Marie. "Technetium or Masurium Facts". ThoughtCo. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
- ^ "Technetium decay and its cardiac application". Khan Academy. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
- ^ Kondev, F. G.; Wang, M.; Huang, W. J.; Naimi, S.; Audi, G. (2021). "The NUBASE2020 evaluation of nuclear properties" (PDF). Chinese Physics C. 45 (3) 030001. doi:10.1088/1674-1137/abddae.
- ^ Stewart, Doug. "Technetium Element Facts". Chemicool. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
- ^ Bentor, Yinon. "Periodic Table: Technetium". Chemical Elements. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
- ^ Hammond, C. R. (2004). "The Elements". Handbook of Chemistry and Physics (81st ed.). CRC press. ISBN 978-0-8493-0485-9.
- ^ Moore, C. E. (1951). "Technetium in the Sun". Science. 114 (2951): 59–61. Bibcode:1951Sci...114...59M. doi:10.1126/science.114.2951.59. PMID 17782983.
- ^ Dixon, P.; Curtis, David B.; Musgrave, John; Roensch, Fred; Roach, Jeff; Rokop, Don (1997). "Analysis of Naturally Produced Technetium and Plutonium in Geologic Materials". Analytical Chemistry. 69 (9): 1692–9. doi:10.1021/ac961159q. PMID 21639292.
- ^ Curtis, D.; Fabryka-Martin, June; Dixon, Paul; Cramer, Jan (1999). "Nature's uncommon elements: plutonium and technetium". Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. 63 (2): 275. Bibcode:1999GeCoA..63..275C. doi:10.1016/S0016-7037(98)00282-8.
- ^ Krebs, Robert E. The history and use of our earth's chemical elements: a reference guide, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006, ISBN 0-313-33438-2 p. 322
- ^ Hall, Nina (2000). The New Chemistry: A Showcase for Modern Chemistry and Its Applications. Cambridge University Press. pp. 8–9. ISBN 978-0-521-45224-3.
- ^ Ghiorso, Albert (2003). "Einsteinium and Fermium". Chemical & Engineering News Archive. 81 (36): 174–175. doi:10.1021/cen-v081n036.p174.
- ^ McGill, Ian. "Rare Earth Elements". Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry. Vol. 31. Weinheim: Wiley-VCH. p. 188. doi:10.1002/14356007.a22_607. ISBN 978-3-527-30673-2.
- ^ Seaborg, Glenn T.; Perlman, Morris L. (1948). "Search for Elements 94 and 93 in Nature. Presence of 94239 in Pitchblende1". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 70 (4). American Chemical Society (ACS): 1571–1573. doi:10.1021/ja01184a083. ISSN 0002-7863.
External links
[edit]- "einsteinium (Es) - chemical element". Britannica.com. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
- "mendelevium (Md) - chemical element". Britannica.com. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
- "synthetic elements". Encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
- "It's Elemental - The Element Fermium". Education.jlab.org. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
- Kulkarni, Mayuri (15 June 2009). "A Complete List of Man-made Synthetic Elements". ScienceStuck. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
Synthetic element
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Fundamentals
Definition
Synthetic elements are chemical elements that do not occur naturally on Earth in significant amounts and are instead created artificially through nuclear reactions in laboratories.[10] These elements are distinguished from primordial elements, which consist of stable or long-lived isotopes that have persisted since the formation of the solar system and are found in significant quantities in the Earth's crust, oceans, and atmosphere.[11] Unlike certain radioactive elements that appear in trace amounts due to ongoing natural processes such as cosmic ray spallation or inclusion in uranium and thorium decay chains, synthetic elements lack stable isotopes and exhibit half-lives too short for primordial accumulation or significant natural production.[12] All transuranic elements—those with atomic numbers greater than 92 (uranium)—are synthetic, as they are not produced in stellar nucleosynthesis in sufficient quantities to exist naturally on Earth.[3] The only synthetic elements lighter than uranium are technetium (atomic number 43) and promethium (atomic number 61), both of which have no stable isotopes and were first synthesized artificially despite their positions earlier in the periodic table.[10] The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), in collaboration with the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP), establishes criteria for confirming the synthesis of new elements through a joint working group that evaluates experimental data, ensures independent replication, and assigns discovery priority based on verifiable nuclear reaction evidence.[13] Upon confirmation, IUPAC oversees the naming process, requiring proposed names to derive from mythological concepts, minerals, places, properties, or scientists, with endings such as "-ium" for groups 1–16, "-ine" for group 17, and "-on" for group 18, followed by public review and approval.[14]Characteristics
Synthetic elements are highly radioactive due to their short half-lives, which span from microseconds for the heaviest isotopes to several years for some lighter transuranic ones, such as plutonium-244 with a half-life of about 80 million years, though most synthetic isotopes decay much more rapidly. This instability arises from the nuclear forces struggling to bind the large number of protons and neutrons, leading to prompt emission of alpha particles, beta particles, or fission fragments. For instance, superheavy elements like tennessine have isotopes with half-lives as short as 14 milliseconds, making their study reliant on detecting decay chains rather than isolating bulk samples.[15][15] The atomic structure of synthetic elements shows increasing instability as atomic number rises beyond uranium, primarily due to lowering fission barriers that favor spontaneous splitting of the nucleus over other decay modes. This trend is tempered by the island of stability hypothesis, which predicts enhanced stability for specific superheavy isotopes near proton numbers Z ≈ 114 or 120 and neutron numbers N ≈ 184, where closed nuclear shells could extend half-lives to seconds or even minutes, allowing potential chemical investigations. Current syntheses approach this region but have not yet reached isotopes with such prolonged stability.[16][16] Chemically, transactinide elements (Z ≥ 104) largely follow periodic trends by resembling their lighter group analogs—for example, rutherfordium (Z=104) behaving akin to hafnium—but relativistic effects become prominent in superheavies, contracting s-orbitals and expanding d- and f-orbitals, which influences bonding and volatility. These effects, scaling with Z², can invert expected orbital energies and alter reactivity, such as stabilizing higher oxidation states or enhancing inertness in elements like flerovium.[17][17] Nuclear properties of synthetic elements feature elevated neutron-to-proton ratios (often exceeding 1.5) to counterbalance electrostatic repulsion among protons, promoting relative stability in neutron-rich isotopes. Decay is predominantly via alpha emission, which reduces both proton and neutron counts while conserving mass-energy, though spontaneous fission dominates in heavier cases (Z > 100), where the nucleus fragments into two medium-mass daughters plus neutrons, bypassing stepwise alpha chains.[18][18]Production
Methods
Synthetic elements, particularly transuranic and superheavy ones, are primarily produced through nuclear reactions involving the bombardment of heavy target nuclei with accelerated particles. The dominant method is fusion-evaporation, where a projectile ion collides with a target nucleus to form a highly excited compound nucleus, which subsequently de-excites by evaporating neutrons (and occasionally charged particles) to yield the desired isotope.[19] This process requires overcoming the Coulomb barrier between the positively charged nuclei, typically achieved using particle accelerators to impart kinetic energies on the order of several MeV per nucleon. For early transuranic elements like plutonium, neutron capture serves as a key method, where neutrons are absorbed by uranium-238 to form uranium-239, which undergoes beta decay to neptunium-239 and then to plutonium-239. However, for heavier synthetic elements beyond americium, charged-particle bombardments become essential, as neutron capture cross-sections diminish rapidly with increasing atomic number. A representative example is the synthesis of bohrium (element 107), achieved via the reaction $ ^{209}\mathrm{Bi} + ^{54}\mathrm{Cr} \rightarrow ^{262}\mathrm{Bh} + 3n $, where chromium-54 ions are accelerated onto a bismuth-209 target, forming an excited compound nucleus that evaporates three neutrons.[20] Two variants of fusion-evaporation are distinguished by the choice of projectile and target, affecting the excitation energy of the compound nucleus: hot fusion and cold fusion. Hot fusion employs lighter projectiles, such as calcium-48, on actinide targets (e.g., plutonium or uranium), resulting in higher excitation energies around 40 MeV and evaporation of 3–5 neutrons, which facilitates access to neutron-richer isotopes but increases fission competition.[21] Recent advances as of 2024 include the use of titanium-50 beams in hot fusion reactions, such as Ti-50 + Cm-248 to produce livermorium-116, demonstrating a pathway to neutron-richer isotopes for potential synthesis of elements beyond oganesson (Z=118).[22] Ongoing experiments target element 119 via reactions like Ti-50 + Bk-249 or V-51 + Cm-248, though cross-sections remain extremely low and no confirmed synthesis has occurred as of November 2025.[23] In contrast, cold fusion uses heavier projectiles (e.g., zinc-70 or krypton) on near-doubly magic lead or bismuth targets, yielding lower excitation energies of 10–15 MeV and typically 1-neutron evaporation, which enhances survival probability against fission but limits neutron richness.[24] These approaches have been pivotal for elements 113–118 (hot fusion) and 107–112 (cold fusion).[25] An alternative method, multinucleon transfer (MNT), involves collisions between two heavy ions at energies near the Coulomb barrier, where multiple protons and neutrons are exchanged without complete fusion, producing a distribution of neutron-rich or neutron-deficient fragments.[26] Unlike fusion-evaporation, MNT does not form a single compound nucleus but generates diverse nuclides simultaneously, offering potential for synthesizing new isotopes in the superheavy region, though yields remain low due to quasielastic processes.[27] Optimizing these reactions relies on measuring excitation functions, which plot the reaction cross-section (a measure of probability, often in picobarns or smaller) against the projectile's center-of-mass energy, revealing the energy window for maximum yield while minimizing competing channels like fission.[28] Cross-sections for superheavy production are exceedingly small (e.g., 1–10 pb for elements around Z=114), necessitating extended irradiation times and sensitive detection, with theoretical models guiding the selection of projectile-target combinations to maximize fusion probability.[29]Facilities and Techniques
The synthesis of synthetic elements, particularly superheavy ones, relies on specialized accelerator facilities capable of producing high-energy heavy-ion beams. Early efforts utilized cyclotrons, such as the 60-inch cyclotron at the University of California, Berkeley, which enabled the initial production of transuranic elements like neptunium and plutonium in the 1940s. Modern facilities employ linear accelerators and synchrotrons for greater beam control and intensity, with recent upgrades enhancing capabilities as of 2025. For instance, the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research in Darmstadt, Germany, operates the UNILAC linear accelerator and the SIS18 synchrotron to accelerate ions up to uranium energies exceeding 10 MeV per nucleon, facilitating the creation of elements up to atomic number 112; the ongoing FAIR (Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research) upgrade aims to increase beam intensities for superheavy studies.[30] [31] Similarly, the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) in Dubna, Russia, features the U400 cyclotron and the DC280 superconducting cyclotron complex, designed specifically for superheavy element synthesis with beams like calcium-48 on actinide targets, delivering up to 0.3 particle-μA.[32] In Japan, RIKEN's Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Science has upgraded its facilities, including a new cyclotron, to lead attempts at synthesizing element 119 using reactions like Cr-50 + Eb-249, with experiments ongoing as of January 2025.[33] Additionally, the CAFE (Compact Accelerator Facility for Elements) at the Institute of Modern Physics in Lanzhou, China, has produced new superheavy isotopes, such as seaborgium-257 in 2025, expanding production in the region.[34] Detection of the fleeting synthetic nuclei produced in these reactions requires sophisticated separation and identification techniques due to their low production cross-sections, often on the order of picobarns. Gas-filled recoil separators, such as the SHIP (Separator for Heavy Ion Reaction Products) at GSI and the DGFRS (Dubna Gas-Filled Recoil Separator) at JINR, exploit the kinematics of fusion-evaporation reactions to isolate heavy recoils from the primary beam and scattered particles, achieving separation efficiencies above 50% for superheavy elements. These separators direct recoils to focal-plane detectors, typically arrays of silicon strip detectors that measure alpha-particle energies, decay chains, and spontaneous fission events with resolutions better than 20 keV.[35] Chemical separation methods complement physical techniques, particularly for transactinides, by exploiting volatility differences in gas-phase chromatography to confirm elemental identities, as demonstrated in studies of elements like rutherfordium.[36] Target materials are crucial for maximizing fusion probabilities and are typically thin foils of enriched actinide isotopes, such as 244Pu or 248Cm, produced in high-flux reactors and electroplated to thicknesses of 0.3–1 mg/cm² to minimize energy loss.[37] Beam intensities have escalated dramatically in contemporary setups, with facilities like JINR delivering 48Ca beams at up to 0.3 particle-μA (equivalent to 1.8 × 10^13 ions per second) to compensate for minuscule cross-sections and enable statistically significant event counts over months-long irradiations.[38] Automation enhances efficiency in these resource-intensive experiments, including robotic target changers at GSI and JINR to rotate or replace foils without interrupting beam delivery, reducing downtime and radiation exposure.[30] International collaborations underpin the verification of synthetic element discoveries, with joint experiments across facilities like GSI, JINR, RIKEN, and emerging centers in China ensuring reproducibility. The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) and International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) convene Joint Working Parties to rigorously evaluate claims, requiring independent confirmation of decay chains and cross-sections before official recognition.[39]History
Early Syntheses
The early syntheses of synthetic elements occurred in the context of burgeoning nuclear physics in the 1930s and 1940s, a period marked by rapid advancements in particle accelerators and the exploration of artificial radioactivity following the discoveries of Irene and Frédéric Joliot-Curie in 1934.[40] Researchers sought to fill gaps in the periodic table, particularly for elements predicted but not observed in nature due to their inherent instability and short half-lives, which prevented significant natural accumulation over Earth's 4.5-billion-year history.[41] These efforts were driven by cyclotrons and nuclear reactions, enabling the production of previously unknown isotopes.[42] The first synthetic element, technetium (atomic number 43), was produced in 1937 by Italian physicists Carlo Perrier and Emilio Segrè at the University of Palermo.[43] Segrè, who had collaborated with Ernest O. Lawrence at the University of California, Berkeley, received a molybdenum foil used as a deflector in Lawrence's cyclotron, which had been bombarded with deuterons (deuterium nuclei) during operation.[40] Perrier and Segrè chemically separated trace amounts of new radioactive isotopes from the irradiated foil, identifying them through their decay properties and chemical behavior, which matched predictions for the missing element between molybdenum and ruthenium.[43] They verified its identity by showing it formed insoluble perrhenates similar to rhenium and exhibited no natural occurrence, attributing its absence to the longest-lived isotope's half-life of approximately 4.2 million years for ^{98}Tc, too brief for primordial survival.[41] Initially referred to as "element 43," it was named technetium in 1947 by IUPAC, from the Greek technetos meaning "artificial," reflecting its solely synthetic origin.[40] Promethium (atomic number 61), the second early synthetic element, was discovered in 1945 amid World War II nuclear research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, though not publicly announced until 1947 due to wartime secrecy.[44] Jacob A. Marinsky, Lawrence E. Glendenin, and Charles D. Coryell isolated it from the fission products of uranium-235 irradiated in a nuclear reactor, using ion-exchange chromatography to separate rare earth elements and identifying promethium-147 (half-life 2.62 years) through its beta decay and chemical properties akin to other lanthanides.[44] To confirm its existence, they synthetically produced it via neutron bombardment of neodymium-146, yielding promethium-147 and verifying the ion-exchange fractions' purity.[44] Like technetium, promethium's absence in nature stems from instability, with its longest-lived isotope ^{145}Pm having a half-life of 17.7 years, insufficient for detectable terrestrial amounts beyond trace fission byproducts.[45] The team proposed the name promethium in 1949, drawing from the mythological Titan Prometheus who stole fire from the gods, symbolizing humanity's creation of this elusive element.[44]Transuranic Era
The Transuranic Era marked a pivotal phase in the synthesis of elements beyond uranium, beginning with the discovery of neptunium (element 93) in 1940 through the bombardment of uranium-238 with neutrons at the University of California, Berkeley, by Edwin McMillan and Philip H. Abelson. This breakthrough was followed closely by the identification of plutonium (element 94) in 1941, when Glenn T. Seaborg, along with McMillan, Joseph W. Kennedy, and Arthur C. Wahl, chemically separated and confirmed the new element produced via deuteron bombardment of uranium in the Berkeley cyclotron. These initial syntheses laid the groundwork for exploring the actinide series, demonstrating that heavier elements could be created artificially in particle accelerators.[46][47] The Manhattan Project, initiated in response to World War II imperatives, accelerated transuranic research by integrating these discoveries into efforts to produce fissile materials for nuclear weapons. Plutonium production scaled up dramatically using nuclear reactors, such as those at the Hanford Site, where neutron capture on uranium-238 in graphite-moderated piles yielded kilogram quantities of plutonium-239 essential for the atomic bomb. Post-war, this infrastructure enabled further advancements; in 1944, Seaborg's team at the Metallurgical Laboratory in Chicago synthesized americium (element 95) and curium (element 96) by bombarding plutonium with neutrons and alpha particles, respectively, marking the first deliberate creation of elements beyond plutonium. By 1949 and 1950, berkelium (97) and californium (98) were produced at Berkeley through helium-ion bombardment of americium and curium, respectively, highlighting the evolving use of cyclotrons for transuranic generation.[48][49] The era's later discoveries included einsteinium (99) and fermium (100), identified in 1952 from coral debris collected after the Ivy Mike thermonuclear test in the Pacific, where intense neutron fluxes in the explosion's uranium tamper produced these elements via successive captures; due to classification, results were declassified and published in 1955. Mendelevium (101) followed in 1955 at Berkeley, synthesized by alpha-particle bombardment of einsteinium in the 60-inch cyclotron, representing the first identification of a transuranic element on an atom-by-atom basis. Nobelium (102) was confirmed in 1958 by Albert Ghiorso's Berkeley team through helium-ion irradiation of curium, amid competing claims. Lawrencium (103), the era's capstone, was created in 1961 at Berkeley via boron-ion bombardment of californium, closing the initial actinide series.[50][51][52] Throughout this period, naming controversies underscored the competitive fervor of the Cold War, particularly between U.S. and Soviet scientists. For nobelium, the 1957 claim by the Nobel Institute in Sweden led to the name's adoption, despite Berkeley's 1958 verification and Soviet assertions of prior discovery in Dubna; the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) upheld "nobelium" in 1992 amid ongoing disputes. Similar rivalries emerged, with Soviet teams at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research claiming syntheses like element 102, fueling a broader race that mirrored geopolitical tensions and prompted accelerated U.S. investments in accelerators like the Berkeley Heavy-Ion Linear Accelerator. These efforts not only expanded the periodic table but also advanced nuclear chemistry techniques central to the era.[53][54]Superheavy Advances
The synthesis of superheavy elements began with element 104, rutherfordium, amid intense international competition. In 1964, scientists at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) in Dubna, Russia, reported the production of element 104 through the bombardment of plutonium-242 with neon-22 ions, though confirmation was debated due to limited evidence.[55] Independently, researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in the United States claimed discovery in 1969 using californium-249 bombarded with carbon-12, leading to a prolonged dispute resolved by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) in favor of shared credit for both teams.[56] This rivalry extended to element 105, dubnium, with Dubna announcing synthesis in 1968 via plutonium-242 and nitrogen-15, while Berkeley reported it in 1970 using americium-243 and neon-22, again resulting in joint recognition after IUPAC arbitration.[57] These early clashes highlighted the challenges of verifying fleeting superheavy nuclei and set the stage for collaborative yet competitive efforts in the field. The Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna played a pivotal role in advancing the synthesis of elements 106 through 118, leveraging hot fusion techniques with calcium-48 beams on actinide targets. Element 106, seaborgium, was first reported by the Dubna team in 1974 through the reaction of lead-208 with chromium-54, marking a significant step in extending the periodic table despite initial naming disputes with Berkeley.[58] This approach culminated in the discovery of oganesson (element 118) in 2006, produced by fusing californium-249 with calcium-48 in a reaction yielding a single atom of oganesson-294 with a cross-section of approximately 0.5 picobarns: $ ^{249}\mathrm{Cf} + ^{48}\mathrm{Ca} \rightarrow ^{294}\mathrm{Og} + 3n $. Dubna's contributions, often in collaboration with LBNL and other international partners, filled the seventh row of the periodic table, demonstrating the efficacy of gas-filled recoil separators for detecting these ultra-short-lived isotopes with half-lives on the order of milliseconds.[59] Theoretical predictions of an "island of stability" posit that superheavy elements around atomic numbers 114 to 126, with specific neutron numbers near 184, could exhibit enhanced stability due to closed nuclear shells, potentially extending half-lives to seconds or longer compared to the microseconds typical of known superheavies.[60] Efforts to reach elements 119 and beyond have intensified since 2019, with past experiments at GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research in Darmstadt, Germany, attempting titanium-50 on berkelium-249, and ongoing attempts at RIKEN in Japan using vanadium-51 on curium-248 since 2018, but no confirmed syntheses have occurred as of November 2025 due to minuscule cross-sections below 1 picobarn and detection challenges.[33] These attempts probe the predicted shoreline of the island, where isotopes like element-120 with 184 neutrons might achieve greater fission resistance, though current facilities require upgrades for sufficient beam intensity.[61] In 2024, a breakthrough in superheavy production enhanced yields for livermorium (element 116), using titanium-50 beams accelerated at LBNL's 88-Inch Cyclotron to bombard plutonium-244 targets, successfully creating two atoms of livermorium-290 with a cross-section of 0.44 picobarns—nearly double that of the traditional calcium-48 method.[62] This titanium-based approach, developed through innovative ion source techniques like the Versatile ECR for Nuclear Science (VENUS), offers a pathway to heavier elements by enabling reactions with more neutron-rich projectiles, potentially aiding quests for elements 119 and 120.[22]Catalog
List
The synthetic elements are cataloged below in a table listing their atomic number, chemical symbol, name, year of discovery (based on IUPAC-recognized synthesis), primary discoverers, and location of discovery. Elements 43 and 61 are synthetic despite being below atomic number 93, as they do not occur naturally in significant quantities. For elements 113–118, temporary systematic names (e.g., ununtrium for 113, ununpentium for 115) were used prior to official naming by IUPAC, following the convention of Latin roots for atomic numbers (e.g., "un-un" for 1-1, "pent" for 5).[13]| Atomic Number | Symbol | Name | Discovery Year | Discoverers | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 43 | Tc | Technetium | 1937 | Carlo Perrier, Emilio G. Segrè | University of Palermo, Italy |
| 61 | Pm | Promethium | 1945 | Jacob A. Marinsky, Lawrence E. Glendenin, Charles D. Coryell | Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USA |
| 93 | Np | Neptunium | 1940 | Edwin M. McMillan, Philip H. Abelson | University of California, Berkeley, USA |
| 94 | Pu | Plutonium | 1940 | Glenn T. Seaborg, Edwin M. McMillan, Joseph W. Kennedy, Arthur C. Wahl | University of California, Berkeley, USA |
| 95 | Am | Americium | 1944 | Glenn T. Seaborg, Ralph A. James, Leon O. Morgan, Albert Ghiorso | Metallurgical Laboratory, University of Chicago, USA |
| 96 | Cm | Curium | 1944 | Glenn T. Seaborg, Ralph A. James, O. M. Stewart Jr., Albert Ghiorso | University of California, Berkeley, USA |
| 97 | Bk | Berkelium | 1949 | Stanley G. Thompson, Glenn T. Seaborg, Kenneth Street Jr., Albert Ghiorso | University of California, Berkeley, USA |
| 98 | Cf | Californium | 1950 | Stanley G. Thompson, Kenneth Street Jr., Albert Ghiorso, Glenn T. Seaborg | University of California, Berkeley, USA |
| 99 | Es | Einsteinium | 1952 | Albert Ghiorso, Stanley G. Thompson, Glenn T. Seaborg et al. | University of California, Berkeley, USA (from thermonuclear debris) |
| 100 | Fm | Fermium | 1952 | Albert Ghiorso, Stanley G. Thompson, Glenn T. Seaborg et al. | University of California, Berkeley, USA |
| 101 | Md | Mendelevium | 1955 | Albert Ghiorso, Glenn T. Seaborg, Stanley G. Thompson et al. | University of California, Berkeley, USA |
| 102 | No | Nobelium | 1966 | Georgy Flerov et al. (JINR team) | Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR), Dubna, Russia |
| 103 | Lr | Lawrencium | 1961 | Albert Ghiorso, Torbjørn Sikkeland, John R. Walton, Glenn T. Seaborg | University of California, Berkeley, USA |
| 104 | Rf | Rutherfordium | 1969 | Albert Ghiorso et al. (Berkeley team); joint credit with G. N. Flerov et al. (Dubna team, 1964 claim) | University of California, Berkeley, USA (joint with JINR, Dubna, Russia) |
| 105 | Db | Dubnium | 1970 | Albert Ghiorso et al. (Berkeley team); joint credit with G. N. Flerov et al. (Dubna team) | University of California, Berkeley, USA (joint with JINR, Dubna, Russia) |
| 106 | Sg | Seaborgium | 1974 | Albert Ghiorso, Glenn T. Seaborg et al. | University of California, Berkeley, USA |
| 107 | Bh | Bohrium | 1981 | G. Münzenberg, P. Armbruster et al. | GSI Helmholtz Centre, Darmstadt, Germany |
| 108 | Hs | Hassium | 1984 | G. Münzenberg, P. Armbruster et al. | GSI Helmholtz Centre, Darmstadt, Germany |
| 109 | Mt | Meitnerium | 1982 | G. Münzenberg, P. Armbruster et al. | GSI Helmholtz Centre, Darmstadt, Germany |
| 110 | Ds | Darmstadtium | 1994 | S. Hofmann, V. Ninov et al. | GSI Helmholtz Centre, Darmstadt, Germany |
| 111 | Rg | Roentgenium | 1994 | S. Hofmann, V. Ninov et al. | GSI Helmholtz Centre, Darmstadt, Germany |
| 112 | Cn | Copernicium | 1996 | S. Hofmann, V. Ninov et al. | GSI Helmholtz Centre, Darmstadt, Germany |
| 113 | Nh | Nihonium | 2004 | K. Morita et al. (RIKEN team) | RIKEN, Wako, Japan |
| 114 | Fl | Flerovium | 1999 | Yuri Oganessian et al. (JINR team) | JINR, Dubna, Russia |
| 115 | Mc | Moscovium | 2003 | Yuri Oganessian et al. (JINR, with LLNL collaboration) | JINR, Dubna, Russia (joint with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, USA) |
| 116 | Lv | Livermorium | 2000 | Yuri Oganessian et al. (JINR, with LLNL collaboration) | JINR, Dubna, Russia (joint with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, USA) |
| 117 | Ts | Tennessine | 2010 | Yuri Oganessian et al. (JINR, LLNL, ORNL, Vanderbilt University collaboration) | JINR, Dubna, Russia (joint with USA institutions) |
| 118 | Og | Oganesson | 2002 | Yuri Oganessian et al. (JINR, with LLNL collaboration) | JINR, Dubna, Russia (joint with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, USA) |
Stability and Isotopes
Technetium (Z=43) and promethium (Z=61) are synthetic elements below the transuranic range due to the absence of stable isotopes and negligible natural abundance. The longest-lived technetium isotope is ^{98}Tc, with a half-life of 4.2 million years, decaying primarily by beta emission to stable ^{98}Ru. For promethium, ^{145}Pm has the longest half-life of 17.7 years, decaying by electron capture to stable ^{145}Nd.[72][73] Transuranic synthetic elements (atomic numbers greater than 92) exhibit nuclear instability due to the imbalance between the strong nuclear force and electrostatic repulsion among protons, leading to radioactive decay. Their isotopes have half-lives spanning a vast range, from fractions of a millisecond for superheavy nuclides to tens of millions of years for certain actinides, reflecting the increasing instability with higher atomic number (Z).[74][75] The primary decay modes for synthetic element isotopes are alpha decay, which reduces both Z and mass number by 2, and spontaneous fission, where the nucleus splits into two lighter fragments, prevalent in heavier isotopes due to shell effects and fission barriers. Beta decay occurs less frequently in these neutron-rich or neutron-deficient nuclides, as the odd-even nucleon pairing influences stability; even-even isotopes tend to favor alpha or fission over beta processes. Trends show that half-lives generally decrease as Z increases beyond 96, with spontaneous fission dominating for Z > 100 due to lower fission barriers, while alpha decay remains significant across the series; neutron number (N) near magic values (e.g., N=152 or 184) can enhance stability by increasing binding energy.[76][75][77]| Element | Isotope | Half-Life | Primary Decay Mode |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neptunium | ^{237}Np | 2.144 × 10^6 years | α decay |
| Plutonium | ^{239}Pu | 24,110 years | α decay (89.0%), spontaneous fission (0.00011%) |
| Plutonium | ^{244}Pu | 8.08 × 10^7 years | α decay (99.88%), spontaneous fission (0.12%) |
| Curium | ^{247}Cm | 1.56 × 10^7 years | α decay |
| Flerovium | ^{289}Fl | 1.9 s | α decay |
| Oganesson | ^{294}Og | 0.7 ms | α decay |