Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Inorganic chemistry

Fleeting glimpse of an elusive element

A heroic effort to characterize the chemistry of actinium, a short-lived radioactive element, reveals surprising differences in behaviour compared with other elements in the actinide series.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Actinide contraction.

Notes

  1. See all news & views

References

  1. Ferrier, M. G. et al. Nature Commun. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms12312 (2016).

  2. Ulmert, D., Abou, D., Lilja, H., Larson, S. & Thorek, D. J. Nucl. Med. 56 (suppl. 3), 281 (2015).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Zalutsky, M. R. & Vaidyanathan, G. Curr. Pharm. Design 6, 1433–1455 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Ruis-Martinez, A. & Alvarez, S. Chem. Eur. J. 15, 7470–7480 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Burns, J. H., Peterson, J. R. & Baybarz, R. D. J. Inorg. Nucl. Chem. 35, 1171–1177 (1973).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. De Sio, S. M. & Wilson, R. E. Inorg. Chem. 53, 12643–12649 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Janoschek, M. et al. Sci. Adv. 1, e1500188 (2015).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. Polinski, M. J. et al. Nature Chem. 6, 387–392 (2014).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thomas E. Albrecht-Schmitt.

Related links

Related links

Related links in Nature Research

Inorganic chemistry: Cation o' nine tails

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Albrecht-Schmitt, T. Fleeting glimpse of an elusive element. Nature 536, 404–405 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/536404a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/536404a

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing