List of chemical element naming controversies

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The currently accepted names and symbols of the chemical elements are determined by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), usually following recommendations by the recognized discoverers of each element. However, the names of several elements have been the subject of controversies until IUPAC established an official name. In most cases, the controversy was due to a priority dispute as to who first found conclusive evidence for the existence of an element, or as to what evidence was in fact conclusive.

Contents

Element 23 (Vanadium V)

Vanadium (named after Vanadís, another name for Freyja, the Scandinavian goddess of fertility) was originally discovered by Andrés Manuel del Río (a Spanish-born Mexican mineralogist) in Mexico City in 1801. He discovered the element after being sent a sample of "brown lead" ore (plomo pardo de Zimapán, now named vanadinite). Through experimentation, he found it to form salts with a wide variety of colors, so he named the element panchromium (Greek: all colors). He later renamed this substance erythronium, since most of the salts turned red when heated. The French chemist Hippolyte Victor Collet-Descotils incorrectly declared that del Río's new element was only impure chromium. Del Río thought himself to be mistaken and accepted the statement of the French chemist that was also backed by del Río's friend Alexander von Humboldt. [1]

In 1831, Sefström of Sweden rediscovered vanadium in a new oxide he found while working with some iron ores. He chose to call the element vanadin in Swedish (which has become vanadium in other languages including German and English) after the Old Norse Vanadís, another name for the Norse Vanr goddess Freyja, whose facets include connections to beauty and fertility, because of the many beautifully colored chemical compounds it produces. Later that same year, Friedrich Wöhler confirmed del Río's earlier work. [2] Later, George William Featherstonhaugh, one of the first US geologists, suggested that the element should be named "rionium" after del Río, but this never happened. [3]

Elements 41 (Niobium Nb) and 74 (Tungsten W)

Charles Hatchett named element 41 columbium in 1801 [4] (Cb), [5] but after the publication of On the Identity of Columbium and Tantalum by William Hyde Wollaston in 1809, the claims of discovery of Hatchett were mistakenly considered refuted. [6] In 1846, Heinrich Rose discovered that tantalite contained an element similar to tantalum and named it niobium. [7] [8] In the 1860s, it was found that niobium and columbium are the same element and are distinct from tantalum. [9]

IUPAC officially adopted niobium in 1950 after 100 years of controversy. [10] This was a compromise of sorts; the IUPAC accepted tungsten (element 74) instead of wolfram (in deference to North American usage) [10] [11] [12] and niobium instead of columbium (in deference to European usage). [10] [12]

Elements 70 (Ytterbium Yb) and 71 (Lutetium Lu)

Gadolinite, a mineral (from Ytterby, a village in Sweden), consists of several compounds (oxides or earths): yttria, erbia (sub-component as ytterbia) and terbia.

In 1878, Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac assumed that ytterbia consisted of a new element he called ytterbium (but actually, there were two new elements). In 1907, Georges Urbain isolated element 70 and element 71 from ytterbia. He called element 70 neoytterbium ("new ytterbium") and called element 71 lutecium. At about the same time, Carl Auer von Welsbach also independently isolated these and proposed the names aldebaranium (Ad), after the star Aldebaran (in the constellation of Taurus), for element 70 (ytterbium), and cassiopeium (Cp), after the constellation Cassiopeia, for element 71 (lutetium), but both proposals were rejected.

Neoytterbium (element 70) was eventually reverted to ytterbium (following Marignac), and in 1949, the spelling of lutecium (element 71) was changed to lutetium.

Elements 102–109

At the time of their discovery, there was an element naming controversy as to what (particularly) the elements from 102 to 109 were to be called. [13] [14] At last, a committee of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) resolved the dispute and adopted one name for each element. They also adopted a temporary systematic element name.

Element 102 (Nobelium No)

IUPAC ratified the name nobelium (No) in honor of Alfred Nobel.

Element 103 (Lawrencium Lr)

IUPAC ratified the name lawrencium (Lr) in honor of Ernest Lawrence during a meeting in Geneva; the name was preferred by the American Chemical Society.

Element 104 (Rutherfordium Rf)

The Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna (then USSR, today Russia) named element 104 kurchatovium (Ku) in honor of Igor Kurchatov, father of the Soviet atomic bomb, while the University of California, Berkeley, US, named element 104 rutherfordium (Rf) in honor of Ernest Rutherford. In 1997, a committee of IUPAC recommended that element 104 be named rutherfordium.

Element 105 (Dubnium Db)

The Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna (a Russian city north of Moscow), proposed naming element 105 nielsbohrium (Ns) after Niels Bohr, while the University of California, Berkeley suggested the name hahnium (Ha) in honor of Otto Hahn. IUPAC recommended that element 105 be named dubnium, after Dubna.

Element 106 (Seaborgium Sg)

The element was discovered almost simultaneously by two laboratories. In June 1974, a Soviet team led by G. N. Flyorov at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research at Dubna reported producing the isotope 259106, and in September 1974, an American research team led by Albert Ghiorso at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley reported creating the isotope 263106. Because their work was independently confirmed first, the Americans suggested the name seaborgium (Sg) in honor of Glenn T. Seaborg, an American chemist. This name was extremely controversial because Seaborg was still alive.

An international committee decided in 1992 that the Berkeley and Dubna laboratories should share credit for the discovery. An element naming controversy erupted and as a result IUPAC adopted unnilhexium (Unh) as a temporary systematic element name.

In 1994, a committee of IUPAC adopted a rule that no element can be named after a living person. [15] This ruling was fiercely objected to by the American Chemical Society.

Seaborg and Ghiorso pointed out that precedents had been set in the naming of elements 99 and 100 as einsteinium (Es) and fermium (Fm) during the lives of Albert Einstein and Enrico Fermi, although these names were not publicly announced until after Einstein and Fermi's deaths. [16] In 1997, as part of a compromise involving elements 104 to 108, the name seaborgium for element 106 was recognized internationally.

Element 107 (Bohrium Bh)

Some suggested the name nielsbohrium (Ns), in honor of Niels Bohr (this was separate from the proposal of the same name for element 105). IUPAC adopted unnilseptium (Uns) as a temporary systematic element name. In 1994, a committee of IUPAC recommended that element 107 be named bohrium (Bh), also in honor of Niels Bohr but using his surname only. While this conforms to the names of other elements honoring individuals where only the surname is taken, it was opposed by many who were concerned that it could be confused with boron, which is called borium in some languages including Latin. Despite this, the name bohrium for element 107 was recognized internationally in 1997.

Element 108 (Hassium Hs)

IUPAC adopted unniloctium (Uno) as a temporary systematic element name. In 1997, a committee of IUPAC recommended that element 108 be named hassium (Hs), in honor of the German state of Hesse (or Hassia in Latin). This state includes the city of Darmstadt, which is home to the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research where several new elements were discovered or confirmed. The element name was accepted internationally.

Element 109 (Meitnerium Mt)

IUPAC adopted unnilennium (Une) as a temporary systematic element name. While meitnerium was discussed in the naming controversy, it was the only proposal and thus never disputed. In 1997, a committee of IUPAC adopted the name meitnerium in honor of Lise Meitner (Mt).

Elements 101–112

Summary of element naming proposals and final decisions for elements 101–112 (those covered in the TWG report) [17]
Atomic
number		 Mendeleev SystematicAmericanRussianGermanCompromise 92IUPAC 94AmericanChemSoc 94IUPAC 95IUPAC 97Present
101eka-thulium(unnilunium)mendelevium——mendeleviummendeleviummendeleviummendeleviummendelevium mendelevium
102eka-ytterbium(unnilbium)nobeliumjoliotium—joliotiumnobeliumnobeliumfleroviumnobelium nobelium
103eka-lutetium(unniltrium)lawrenciumrutherfordium—lawrenciumlawrenciumlawrenciumlawrenciumlawrencium lawrencium
104eka-hafniumunnilquadiumrutherfordiumkurchatovium—meitneriumdubniumrutherfordiumdubniumrutherfordium rutherfordium
105eka-tantalumunnilpentiumhahniumnielsbohrium—kurchatoviumjoliotiumhahniumjoliotiumdubnium dubnium
106eka-tungstenunnilhexiumseaborgium——rutherfordiumrutherfordiumseaborgiumseaborgiumseaborgium seaborgium
107eka-rheniumunnilseptium——nielsbohriumnielsbohriumbohriumnielsbohriumnielsbohriumbohrium bohrium
108eka-osmiumunniloctium——hassiumhassiumhahniumhassiumhahniumhassium hassium
109eka-iridiumunnilennium——meitneriumhahniummeitneriummeitneriummeitneriummeitnerium meitnerium
110eka-platinumununniliumhahniumbecquereliumdarmstadtium————— darmstadtium
111eka-goldunununium——roentgenium————— roentgenium
112eka-mercuryununbium——copernicium————— copernicium

The name flerovium, which appears in the 1995 IUPAC set for element 102, was eventually used (uncontroversially) for element 114 (eka-lead).

In some countries, as Poland, Denmark, [18] India, [19] Indonesia [20] prior to 1997 element 104 had a Soviet proposal kurchatovium and element 105 had an American proposal hahnium.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dubnium</span> Chemical element, symbol Db and atomic number 105

Dubnium is a synthetic chemical element; it has symbol Db and atomic number 105. It is highly radioactive: the most stable known isotope, dubnium-268, has a half-life of about 16 hours. This greatly limits extended research on the element.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Niobium</span> Chemical element, symbol Nb and atomic number 41

Niobium is a chemical element; it has symbol Nb and atomic number 41. It is a light grey, crystalline, and ductile transition metal. Pure niobium has a Mohs hardness rating similar to pure titanium, and it has similar ductility to iron. Niobium oxidizes in Earth's atmosphere very slowly, hence its application in jewelry as a hypoallergenic alternative to nickel. Niobium is often found in the minerals pyrochlore and columbite, hence the former name "columbium". Its name comes from Greek mythology: Niobe, daughter of Tantalus, the namesake of tantalum. The name reflects the great similarity between the two elements in their physical and chemical properties, which makes them difficult to distinguish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nobelium</span> Chemical element, symbol No and atomic number 102

Nobelium is a synthetic chemical element; it has symbol No and atomic number 102. It is named in honor of Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite and benefactor of science. A radioactive metal, it is the tenth transuranic element and is the penultimate member of the actinide series. Like all elements with atomic number over 100, nobelium can only be produced in particle accelerators by bombarding lighter elements with charged particles. A total of twelve nobelium isotopes are known to exist; the most stable is 259No with a half-life of 58 minutes, but the shorter-lived 255No is most commonly used in chemistry because it can be produced on a larger scale.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seaborgium</span> Chemical element, symbol Sg and atomic number 106

Seaborgium is a synthetic chemical element; it has symbol Sg and atomic number 106. It is named after the American nuclear chemist Glenn T. Seaborg. As a synthetic element, it can be created in a laboratory but is not found in nature. It is also radioactive; the most stable known isotope, 269Sg, has a half-life of approximately 14 minutes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Synthetic element</span> Chemical elements that do not occur naturally

A synthetic element is one of 24 known chemical elements that do not occur naturally on Earth: they have been created by human manipulation of fundamental particles in a nuclear reactor, a particle accelerator, or the explosion of an atomic bomb; thus, they are called "synthetic", "artificial", or "man-made". The synthetic elements are those with atomic numbers 95–118, as shown in purple on the accompanying periodic table: these 24 elements were first created between 1944 and 2010. The mechanism for the creation of a synthetic element is to force additional protons into the nucleus of an element with an atomic number lower than 95. All known synthetic elements are unstable, but they decay at widely varying rates: the half-lives of their longest-lived isotopes range from microseconds to millions of years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tantalum</span> Chemical element, symbol Ta and atomic number 73

Tantalum is a chemical element; it has symbol Ta and atomic number 73. Previously known as tantalium, it is named after Tantalus, a figure in Greek mythology. Tantalum is a very hard, ductile, lustrous, blue-gray transition metal that is highly corrosion-resistant. It is part of the refractory metals group, which are widely used as components of strong high-melting-point alloys. It is a group 5 element, along with vanadium and niobium, and it always occurs in geologic sources together with the chemically similar niobium, mainly in the mineral groups tantalite, columbite and coltan.

The names for the chemical elements 104 to 106 were the subject of a major controversy starting in the 1960s, described by some nuclear chemists as the Transfermium Wars because it concerned the elements following fermium on the periodic table.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nils Gabriel Sefström</span> Swedish chemist

Nils Gabriel Sefström was a Swedish chemist. Sefström was a student of Berzelius and, when studying the brittleness of steel in 1830, he rediscovered a new chemical element, to which he gave the name vanadium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Hatchett</span> British chemist (1765–1847)

Charles Hatchett FRS FRSE was an English mineralogist and analytical chemist who discovered the element niobium, for which he proposed the name "columbium".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Columbite</span> Mineral group

Columbite, also called niobite, niobite-tantalite and columbate, of general chemical formula (FeII,MnII)Nb2O6, is a black mineral group that is an ore of niobium. It has a submetallic luster and a high density and is a niobate of iron and manganese. This mineral group was first found in Haddam, Connecticut, in the United States. It forms a series with the tantalum-dominant analogue ferrotantalite and one with the manganese-dominant analogue manganocolumbite. The iron-rich member of the columbite group is ferrocolumbite. Some tin and tungsten may be present in the mineral. Yttrocolumbite is the yttrium-rich columbite with the formula (Y,U,Fe)(Nb,Ta)O
4. It is a radioactive mineral found in Mozambique.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albert Ghiorso</span> American nuclear scientist

Albert Ghiorso was an American nuclear scientist and co-discoverer of a record 12 chemical elements on the periodic table. His research career spanned six decades, from the early 1940s to the late 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Group 3 element</span> Group of chemical elements

Group 3 is the first group of transition metals in the periodic table. This group is closely related to the rare-earth elements. It contains the four elements scandium (Sc), yttrium (Y), lutetium (Lu), and lawrencium (Lr). The group is also called the scandium group or scandium family after its lightest member.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Group 5 element</span> Group of elements in the periodic table

Group 5 is a group of elements in the periodic table. Group 5 contains vanadium (V), niobium (Nb), tantalum (Ta) and dubnium (Db). This group lies in the d-block of the periodic table. This group is sometimes called the vanadium group or vanadium family after its lightest member; however, the group itself has not acquired a trivial name because it belongs to the broader grouping of the transition metals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anders Gustaf Ekeberg</span> Swedish analytical chemist

Anders Gustaf Ekeberg was a Swedish analytical chemist who discovered tantalum in 1802. He was notably deaf.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heinrich Rose</span> German mineralogist and analytical chemist (1795–1864)

Heinrich Rose was a German mineralogist and analytical chemist. He was the brother of the mineralogist Gustav Rose and a son of Valentin Rose. Rose's early works on phosphorescence were noted in the Quarterly Journal of Science in 1821, and on the strength of these works, he was elected privatdozent at the University of Berlin from 1822, then Professor from 1832.

Pelopium was the proposed name for a new element found by the chemist Heinrich Rose in 1845. The name derived from the Greek king and later god Pelops, son of Tantalus. During the analysis of the mineral tantalite, he concluded that it does contain an element similar to niobium and tantalum. The similar reactivity of niobium and tantalum complicated preparation of pure samples and therefore several new elements were proposed, which were later found to be mixtures of niobium and tantalum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georges Urbain</span>

Georges Urbain was a French chemist, a professor of the Sorbonne, a member of the Institut de France, and director of the Institute of Chemistry in Paris. Much of his work focused on the rare earths, isolating and separating elements such as europium and gadolinium, and studying their spectra, their magnetic properties and their atomic masses. He discovered the element lutetium. He also studied the efflorescence of saline hydrates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christian Wilhelm Blomstrand</span> Swedish mineralogist and chemist

Christian Wilhelm Blomstrand was a Swedish mineralogist and chemist. He was a professor at the University of Lund from 1862-1895, where he isolated the element niobium in 1864. He developed an early version of the periodic table and made advances in understanding the chemistry of coordination compounds. Blomstrand published textbooks in chemistry and was well-known internationally for his scientific contributions.

Dianium was the proposed name for a new element found by the mineralogist and poet Wolfgang Franz von Kobell in 1860. The name derived from the Roman goddess Diana. During the analysis of the mineral tantalite and niobite, he concluded that it does contain an element similar to niobium and tantalum. The symbol was Di.

References

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Cintas, Pedro (2004). "The Road to Chemical Names and Eponyms: Discovery, Priority, and Credit". Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 43 (44): 5888–5894. doi:10.1002/anie.200330074. PMID   15376297.
  2. ↑ Sefström, Nils Gabriel (1831). "Ueber das Vanadin, ein neues Metall, gefunden im Stangeneisen von Eckersholm, einer Eisenhütte, die ihr Erz von Taberg in Småland bezieht". Annalen der Physik und Chemie . 97 (1): 43–49. Bibcode:1831AnP....97...43S. doi:10.1002/andp.18310970103.
  3. ↑ Featherstonhaugh, George William (1831). "New Metal, provisionally called Vanadium". The Monthly American Journal of Geology and Natural Science: 69.
  4. ↑ Greenwood, Norman N.; Earnshaw, Alan (1997). Chemistry of the Elements (2nd ed.). Butterworth-Heinemann. p. 976. ISBN   978-0-08-037941-8.
  5. ↑ Hatchett, Charles (1802). "Eigenschaften und chemisches Verhalten des von Charlesw Hatchett entdeckten neuen Metalls, Columbium". Annalen der Physik (in German). 11 (5): 120–122. Bibcode:1802AnP....11..120H. doi:10.1002/andp.18020110507.
  6. ↑ Wollaston, William Hyde (1809). "On the Identity of Columbium and Tantalum". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. 99: 246–252. doi:10.1098/rstl.1809.0017. JSTOR   107264. S2CID   110567235.
  7. ↑ Rose, Heinrich (1844). "Ueber die Zusammensetzung der Tantalite und ein im Tantalite von Baiern enthaltenes neues Metall". Annalen der Physik (in German). 139 (10): 317–341. Bibcode:1844AnP...139..317R. doi:10.1002/andp.18441391006.
  8. ↑ Rose, Heinrich (1847). "Ueber die Säure im Columbit von Nordamérika". Annalen der Physik (in German). 146 (4): 572–577. Bibcode:1847AnP...146..572R. doi:10.1002/andp.18471460410.
  9. ↑ Marignac, Blomstrand; Deville, H.; Troost, L.; Hermann, R. (1866). "Tantalsäure, Niobsäure, (Ilmensäure) und Titansäure". Fresenius' Journal of Analytical Chemistry. 5 (1): 384–389. doi:10.1007/BF01302537. S2CID   97246260.
  10. 1 2 3 Rayner-Canham, Geoff; Zheng, Zheng (2008). "Naming elements after scientists: an account of a controversy". Foundations of Chemistry. 10 (1): 13–18. doi:10.1007/s10698-007-9042-1. S2CID   96082444.
  11. ↑ Patel, Zh.; Khul'ka K. (2001). "Niobium for Steelmaking". Metallurgist. 45 (11–12): 477–480. doi:10.1023/A:1014897029026. S2CID   137569464.
  12. 1 2 Norman N., Greenwood (2003). "Vanadium to dubnium: from confusion through clarity to complexity". Catalysis Today. 78 (1–4): 5–11. doi:10.1016/S0920-5861(02)00318-8.
  13. ↑ "The Transfermium Wars". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science, Inc. 51 (1): 5. 1995. ISSN   0096-3402.
  14. ↑ Fox, Stuart (2009-06-29). "What's It Like to Name An Element on the Periodic Table?". Popular Science.
  15. ↑ Naming of element 106 disputed by international committee Lynn Yarris, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBL) Science Articles Archive, 1994 Oct.14
  16. ↑ Out of His Element : Discovery Won't Be Named for Chemist--Because He's Alive Thomas H. Maugh II, Los Angeles Times, 1994 Oct.12
  17. ↑ Hoffman, D. C.; Ghiorso, A.; Seaborg, G. T. (2000). The Transuranium People: The Inside Story. Imperial College Press. pp. 369–399. ISBN   978-1-86094-087-3.
  18. ↑ Gyldendals Minilex. Biologi. Gyldendal Uddannelse. 2009. ISBN   9788702028096.
  19. ↑ Inorganic Chemistry. Mittal Publications. 1984. ISBN   9788170998280.
  20. ↑ Biology. Erlangga. 1999. ISBN   9789797817138.
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