RTP-based group approves four new elements on periodic table

A certain element of surprise may be in order — the periodic table has officially expanded.

The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, based in Research Triangle Park, approved the names of four new elements on Nov. 28. Elements 113, 115, 117 and 118 are now formally named nihonium, moscovium, tennessine and oganesson. 

“It’s like reaching the next frontier in science,” said Krzysztof Rykaczewski, a researcher at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee who was part of the team that helped discover tennessine. 

Lynn Soby, executive director of the IUPAC Secretariat, said the discovery is monumental, as these four elements complete the seventh period, or row, of the periodic table. 

“There are very few laboratories that have the capabilities of doing these types of experiments to actually create the final four within this time period," she said.

IUPAC is responsible for verifying the discovery of new elements and approving their names. Soby said a new discovery must meet a long list of criteria, which is verified by a joint working party with members from IUPAC and the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics. 

“That group of scientists gets together and evaluates any data that has to do with the discovery of a new element, and that could last for years until those researchers and scientific studies are confirmed,” she said.

Once the discovery is confirmed, the laboratories credited with the discovery are given the opportunity to propose a name. 

According to an IUPAC statement, the name for element 113 was proposed by the discoverers at RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Science in Japan. “Nihon” is one of the two ways to say “Japan” in Japanese, and it means “the Land of Rising Sun.” 

Moscovium and tennessine were proposed by the discoverers at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Russia, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Vanderbilt University and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. They refer to the Moscow region of Russia and Tennessee. 

Oganesson, proposed by the collaborating teams of discoverers at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, recognizes Professor Yuri Oganessian for his pioneering contributions to the research of elements. 

Soby said although the discoveries of these man-made synthetics provide information about the elements’ lifetimes, there is still research to be done on their properties.

“It’s the great unknown right now,” she said. “We know they’re unique, but we don’t have any information on the properties of those isotopes.”

Rykaczewski said his field is constantly expanding and beginning work on new experiments to discover new elements.

“This is a very attractive subject in particular,” he said. “You get some fame if you discover a new element because you have the right to name it, so a lot is going on, and the next row is very interesting.”

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