1. Curious Wavefunction on December 14, 2011 1:29 PM writes...

My mind boggles just thinking about the number of organometallic-related Nobel Prizes that will never be awarded because of wimpy concerns about national security. Lack of access to explosive, exotic, intensely radioactive metals will always haunt the organic chemist's conscience.

2. Curious Wavefunction on December 14, 2011 1:33 PM writes...

My mind boggles just thinking about the number of organometallic-related Nobel Prizes that will never be awarded because of wimpy concerns about national security. Lack of access to explosive, exotic, intensely radioactive metals will always haunt the organic chemist's conscience.

3. DrSAR on December 14, 2011 1:42 PM writes...

What isotope would they have used? Pu244 sounds benign but might not be available in useful quantities. I looked at the paper but they don't mention. Is that because it's too obvious or too nat'l-security-sensitive? How am I going to reproduce their experiments if they don't tell me !?

4. RB Woodweird on December 14, 2011 3:09 PM writes...

Too bad 'van Boom's reagent' is already taken.

5. Canageek on December 14, 2011 4:23 PM writes...

I still don't see the problem with the uranium catalyst-- You can easily use depleted uranium, so it would only be marginally more dangerous then lead, and you read about things far more dangerous then lead in the literature all the time. Heck, even natural abundance uranium is safe enough to handle without excessive protection.

Plutonium on the other hand...

It is a shame no one is doing hot-atom chemistry anymore. I found a very interesting book tucked away in our library about using radioactive decomposition in synthetic chemistry. You have to be careful that the bonds holding the radioisotope in place are stronger then the recoil energy, but given that you can make the molecule with one atom, wait a while, and have the molecule suddenly bound to a lighter atom. The downside is it is only practical for very small amounts, and you are limited by the half-life of the isotope; Long enough that you can make the molecule with the mother isotope, short enough you don't have to wait for years to get results.

6. gippgig on December 14, 2011 4:46 PM writes...

Plutonium is unique. The early actinides behave like transition metals; the late ones like rare earths. Plutonium is right on the dividing line, which gives it really weird properties. A good article about this is "Plutonium An element at odds with itself", available at www.fas.org/sgp/othergov/doe/lanl/pubs/00818006.pdf.
I think any isotope would work; chemically they are virtually identical (altho short-lived isotopes do generate a lot of heat & ionizing radiation which can affect reactions).

7. Marty McFly on December 15, 2011 2:28 PM writes...

Plutonium's phase changes are pretty bizarre. Also interesting is that it is warm to the touch, all the time. Even better, if you put a bit in a Delorean and drive 88 miles per hour, you can travel through time and accidentally prevent your parents from ever marrying. Cool stuff. Wish I had some.

8. Tex on January 7, 2012 2:10 PM writes...

There are a few examples of papers I've read which employ the use of plutonium for structural or reactivity studies; in most cases, the papers include some kind of warning or hazard about plutonium. Regarding that, all of the aforementioned warnings have stated that weapons-grade plutonium was employed for those studies, (so most likely a mixture of Pu-239 and Pu-240). I say a mixture because as I'm sure anyone could imagine, the separation of one element from from another isotope of that element can be remarkably difficult. That being said, while I do work with other actinides up to uranium using a very typical organometallic lab, I would DEFINITELY not work with plutonium without having the proper lab and safety equipment installed and ready to go!