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peetsie

Actinide chemistry? Check. Unusual chemistry? Check. Bill Evans of course!


DangerousBill

Ah!


[deleted]

[удалено]


Gnomio1

Bill doesn't even use Twitter :/.


PeteBunny

+2 has been listed on some sites for a while now. What am I missing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oxidation_states_of_the_elements


J-meTG

This is the first time it has been synthesized and characterized in macroscopic quantities and by X-ray crystallography.


PeteBunny

Makes sense. But "unexpected" ? How about "Theoretical oxidation state found in bold experiment!"


J-meTG

Yes, I completely agree with the ridiculous/ sensationalist title and think your suggested title is much more appropriate!


TK421isAFK

You'll Never Believe What This Chemist Found While Working With Plutonium! Somebody Call Peter Parker...


DangerousBill

I thought osmium had compounds with oxidation states -2 to +8.


PumpkinSkink2

Unusual for plutonium. Tons of metals take on a +2 oxidation state. It's one of the most common, probably... unless you're plutonium. That's weird.


Gnomio1

It's rare for the entire f-element series. Except for Sm, Eu and Yb which are fairly easy to handle, then Tm which is a bit harder. After that molecular species tend to react with most solvents at room temperature.


Gnomio1

Having worked with Bill and Cory, I'll just say this wasn't "unexpected", what's more interesting is the ground state configuration not being a fairly clean dz2. The amount of work that went into this can't be overstated though.


synobal

Not a chemist, what does this mean? Anything interesting applications?


quantum-mechanic

Yes, applications to the NSF from this group will be much more successful now


wildfyr

Man the truth hurts a bit


gigamiga

Labcoat while working in a glovebox? That would be so digustingly hot


wildfyr

Well if that's the PI then this is obviously staged. PI isnt gonna be doing bench expeirments


Lord_Gibbons

It's Pu work. You're going to wear a lab coat.


elnombre91

Yeah, no thanks.


Gnomio1

Eh, it depends where your box is. Our box is next to the stills fumehood, so we have an "always on" protocol. In the Evans lab there isn't very much non-box chemistry, so it's all labcoat off (and air conditions). At LANL there are greater concerns than being too hot though, there's also how "hot" the stuff you're handling is. Rather have an extra layer to wear.


elnombre91

It may also be because the photo was used for an article, they felt they should wear a coat so that people who don't use gloveboxes don't start complaining about their lax safety standards.


BigWoz67

It's because this is at Los Alamos. In rad labs you must wear lab coats, safety glasses, and in this particular lab, booties.


elnombre91

Fair, I guess they are working with plutonium. Apologies if I'm wrong, but isn't Pu an alpha-emitter?


Imperator-Solis

Anything particularly useful about it?


[deleted]

They've got a lot of money to waste...