First Promethium ‘Complex’ Created, Revealing Mysterious Element’s Secrets

image via New Scientist

June 11, 2024, 5:00 PM

• •Chemists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have become the first to use radioactive promethium to make a chemical 'complex'
• •The feat of synthesis enabled the team to study how the element bonds with other atoms in a solution with water
• •The findings fill a long-standing gap in chemistry textbooks, and could eventually lead to better methods for separating promethium from similar elements in nuclear waste, for example

Scientists have finally made a compound containing the mysterious element promethium. The feat of synthesis enabled the team to study how the element bonds with other atoms in a solution with water. The findings fill a long-standing gap in chemistry textbooks, and could eventually lead to better methods for separating promethium from similar elements in nuclear waste, for example.

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