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Title: Frontiers of chemistry for americium and curium

Conference ·
OSTI ID:5993637

The discoveries of americium and curium were made only after Seaborg had formulated his actinide concept in order to design the chemistry needed to separate them from irradiated /sup 239/Pu targets. Their discoveries thus furnished the first clear-cut evidence that the series exists and justified Seaborg's bold assumption that even though Th and Pa appeared to presage a following 6d series, the pattern established by the periodic table after Cs and Ba would be repeated exactly after Fr and Ra. That is to say, a new 5f element rare earth series (the actinides) would follow Ac in the same way the 4f rare earth series (the lanthanides) follows La. The consequences of the resulting half-filled 5f/sup 7/ shell at Cm were originally presented by Seaborg as a test of his hypothesis. Recent research is outlined that substantiates Seaborg's predictions in new and definitive ways. 15 references, 4 figures.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-84OR21400
OSTI ID:
5993637
Report Number(s):
CONF-841210-3; ON: DE85004413
Resource Relation:
Conference: International chemical congress of Pacific Basin Societies, Honolulu, HI, USA, 16 Dec 1984
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English