Post #3712077
2026-07-09 22:04 UTC
@sellathechemist@mastodon.social Ah! I suppose that's roughly true, but there must have already been considerable attention given to better ways to discriminate among lanthanide ions with "wet" chemical techniques because they're byproducts of nuclear fission. I remember a few of the general rules, like the solubility differences among double sulfates and the tendency of certain lanthanides to form more strongly basic oxides than others.
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@sellathechemist@mastodon.social 2026-07-10 07:49
@mxchara@seattle.pink There was indeed. And the improved separation of the lanthanides during the Manhattan project was a big driver for the development of ion exchange resins and of solvent extraction, with accompanying developments in ligand chemistry. But Pimentel was really making a comparison with the d-block where you have lots of variable oxidation states, redox chemistry, complex covalency and so on. The lanthanides seemed a bit tame by comparison.