Superheavy elements are short-lived and only available on a single-atom level, making their chemical properties very challenging to study. Now, through their co-precipitation with samarium, single atoms of rutherfordium have been shown to form hydroxide complexes but not ammine ones.
Details are now available in an article by Yoshitaka Kasamatsu et. al, published in Nature Chemistry. Alexander Yakushev has written an accompanying article in the same journal.
Publication
Kasamatsu, Y.*, Toyomura, K., Haba, H. et al.
Co-precipitation behaviour of single atoms of rutherfordium in basic solutions
Nat. Chem. 13, 226–230 (2021)
*Corresponding author
Accompanying article:
A. Yakushev
Probing precipitation properties
Nat. Chem. 13, 213–215 (2021)