Dubnium

Introduction

Dubnium is a D-Block, Period 7, Group 5 element. Dubnium has [Rn]5𝑓146𝑑3 7𝑠2 electron configuration and has 2, 8, 18, 32, 32, 11, 2 electrons in each of its shells. Although its exact appearance is uncertain, dubnium is supposed to be metallic grey or silvery white. The element is poorly understood and has no known applications. Because dubnium is a manufactured element, it cannot be found in the natural world.

What is Dubnium?

Dubnium is an atomic number 105 chemical element with the symbol Db. Dubnium is a solid at room temperature and is categorised as a transition metal. Dubnium does not exist in its natural state. The original synthesis of this element is credited to the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, as well as Albert Ghiorso and his associates at the University of California. JINR facility in Russia is named for the element. Dubnium has no isotopic applications outside of scientific research.

History

The history of dubnium starts in Russia. Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna, found dubnium an artificial element in 1967. They produced dubnium-261, and dubnium-260 along with neutrons by the bombardment of americium-243 atoms with neon-22 ions. Dubnium -260 atoms were also discovered by researchers at Lawrence Berkeley laboratory in 1970, by the bombardment of californium-249 atoms and nitrogen-15 ions. Dubnium was discovered, but who discovered it is still up for question. The most stable isotope of dubnium, dubnium-268, spontaneously fissions after a half-life of roughly 32 hours.

The Berkeley team came up with the name “hahnium” as a tribute to physicist Otto Hahn. And later IUPAC named the element as Dubnium.

Chemical Properties of Dubnium

Given below are the chemical properties exhibited by dubnium.

Protons	105
Electrons	105
Neutrons	157
Electronic configuration	[Rn]5𝑓146𝑑3 7𝑠2
Covalent radius	149 pm
Atomic radius	139 pm
Phase	Solid
Oxidation state	5, 4, 3
First ionisation energy	664.8 𝑘𝐽 · 𝑚𝑜𝑙−1

Dubnium exhibits chemical characteristics when it is in water. The studies of the aqueous-phase chemistry of dubnium using 〖262𝐷𝑏 produced in the irradiation〖249𝐵𝑘 180 ions were manually conducted using the 88-inch cyclotron.

Dubnium first gets adsorbed on a glass surface after fuming with $\mathrm{HNO_{3}}$, just as its homolog tantalum (𝑇𝑎). The other attempt at chemical separation includes the extraction of anionic fluoride into methyl isobutyl ketone. Ta was practically quantitatively eliminated into methyl isobutyl ketone in these conditions, whereas Nb was just slightly extracted. Db was discovered to not behave chemically in the same way as its lighter homolog Ta. According to the chosen conditions, Db may produce poly negative anions like [DbF7] 2 based on its non-𝑇𝑎-like behaviour.

ARCA II was used to carry out a significant number of automated separations as part of the investigation into this surprising discovery and other aspects of the Db chemistry. Tri Iso Octylamine (𝑇𝑖𝑂𝐴), a liquid anion-exchanger, was used to produce separations on inert support in the initial studies. It was discovered that 𝑇𝑖𝑂𝐴 can remove from 𝐻𝐶𝑙 solutions over all group-5 elements, also the protactinium. However, the experiment found that at lower 𝐻𝐶𝑙 concentrations, 𝐷𝑏 exhibited a startlingly different behaviour from 𝑇𝑎 and followed its lighter homologs 𝑁𝑏 and 𝑃𝑎.

Uses of Dubnium

Dubnium has no uses other than fundamental scientific research because it is neither naturally occurring in free form nor is it generated in greater quantities in a laboratory. The research on dubnium is mainly based on the characterization of volatile dubnium compounds, isolation of dubnium in fluoride media, and chemical synthesis and its identification.

Properties of Dubnium

Dubnium should be in group 5 of the periodic table, along with tantalum, niobium, and vanadium. Numerous investigations that investigated the characteristics of element 105 discovered that they largely matched what the periodic rule predicted. Relativistic effects, which drastically alter physical properties on both an atomic and macroscopic scale, may nevertheless lead to significant deviations. Due to several factors, including the difficulty in producing superheavy atoms, the low production rates that only allow for microscopic scales, the need for a radiochemistry lab to test the atoms, the short half-lives of those atoms, and the presence of numerous undesirable activities in addition to those involved in superheavy atom synthesis, these properties have remained difficult to measure. Only single atoms have been the subject of investigations thus far. And its physical state is estimated as solid.

Given below are the general properties exhibited by the dubnium.

Symbol	Db
Atomic mass	268 u
Type of element	Transition metal
Period, Block, Group	7, d, 5
Density	29 g/𝑐𝑚3
Thermal Conductivity	0.58 W/cmK
Another name	Dubnio

Oxidation states and isotopes

There are seven known isotopes of dubnium. The most reliable is 〖268𝐷𝑏, with a half- life of roughly 32 hours. Several isotopes of dubnium were discovered and underwent various experiments.

Using the Coulomb and proximity potentials, the radioactivity of the superheavy nuclei 〖250−275𝐷𝑏 is investigated and presented. In the superheavy nuclei〖250−275𝐷𝑏, the half-lives correspond to several decay modes, such as cluster decay (12𝐶, 14𝑁, 18, 20O, 23F, 20𝑁𝑒, 34S, 28𝑀𝑔, and 40𝐶𝑎), and spontaneous fission is examined. A comparison is made between the researched half-lives and the available experiments. The branching ratios and decay mechanisms of the dubnium isotopes are presented. Dubnium isotopes〖254−263𝐷𝑏 are known as emitters, but isotopes like〖250−253𝐷𝑏 and〖264−275𝐷𝑏 are known to spontaneously fission. The detected dubnium alpha- emitting isotopes have half-lives of 1 ms to 100 s with decay energy ranging from 6 MeV to 10 MeV. It was projected what projectile-target combinations might be used to create the superheavy nuclei 253–263Db. Larger evaporation residue cross-sections are produced by the combination of a spherical projectile and target.

Dubnium has only three oxidation states, they are +5, +4, and +3.

Conclusion

Super-heavy or transactinide elements include dubnium. Its chemical characteristics should resemble those of transition metals if enough of them were ever created. The element tantalum would be the closest analogue. 𝑁𝑒𝑜𝑛-22 atoms were used to initially create dubnium by bombarding americium-243. Dubnium's isotopes are all radioactive. The one with the longest half-life is 28 hours. The production of dubnium has never exceeded a few atoms. Its features are currently poorly understood, and there are no real-world applications for it.

FAQs

1. What is the state of matter of dubnium?

Standard state of dubnium is estimated as solid.

2. What is the IUPAC name of dubnium?

Unnilpentium is the IUPAC name for dubnium.

3. Is dubnium a naturally occurring element?

Dubnium is synthesised artificially because it does not exist naturally on Earth.

4. What materials make up dubnium?

Nitrogen is used to bombard California-249 to produce dubnium. Neon can also be used to bombard americium-243 to create it.

5. What is the meaning of dubnium?

An artificially created short-lived radioactive element.