Astatine

Astatine Property

Melting point:

302°C

Boiling point:

333.81°C (estimate)

solubility 

soluble in HNO3, organic solvents

form 

crystals

color 

crystals, crystalline

Water Solubility 

soluble organic solvents [MER06]

Hazard and Precautionary Statements (GHS)

Astatine Chemical Properties,Usage,Production

Application

The element astatine is extremely rare and difficult to aggregate. Unlike iodine element in the natural world as abundant, and there is like Victoria iodine mine such a large reserve source support for industrial construction. Therefore, people can't even see its real face. Although astatine element extremely short half-life, in the scientific research does not have much practical application value. But its stable isotopes have extremely important role in medicine. Especially in recent years the most popular nuclear medicine. For example, astatine 211 can release a particle and its half-life is 7.2 hours. It can be used in radiation therapy.

Chemical Properties

radioactive crystal(s) halogen with 20 isotopes; heaviest of the halogens; 209At, t1/2=5.5 h; 210At, t1/2=8.3 h; more metallic than iodine; preparation: from Bi by α-particle bombardment; possible medical uses, concentrates in thyroid gland [HAW93] [MER06]

Physical properties

Physical properties of this element have not been well investigated due to short half-lives of isotopes. The element is volatile; may be distilled in vacuum at room temperature in a glass apparatus; and condensed in a dry ice trap. It is soluble in chloroform, ether, hexane and many other organic solvents. Solubility in water should be of low order.

Occurrence

Astatine is one of the rarest elements in nature. Extremely small amounts of short-lived isotopes At-215, At-217, At-218 and At-219 are naturally found occurring in equilibrium with uranium, neptunium and thorium isotopes. The element was named by Corson, MacKenzie and Segre who produced the first of its isotope At-211 in 1940 by bombarding bismuth with alpha particles. Since then many isotopes in the mass range 200 to 219 have been synthesized. All isotopes, however, are unstable, their half-lives ranging between a few microseconds to less than ten hours. The most stable ones are At-210, At-211 and At-209. No use of this element is known so far.

History

Astatine was discovered in 1940 by Dale R. Corson, Kenneth R. MacKenzie, and Emilio Segrè at the University of California, Berkeley. Their astatine was made by bombarding bismuth with alpha particles. It was named "astatine" from the Greek word ástatos, meaning "unstable". Berta Karlik and her assistant Traude Bernert are also credited with confirming its natural occurrence in the Earth's crust in 1943.

Definition

ChEBI: Diastatine is an elemental astatine.

Hazard

Exposure to radiation may cause cancer. Studies on experimental animals show it induces tumors.