Category: Nomenclature and Terminology
Provisional Recommendation - Names and Symbols of the Elements with Atomic Numbers 114 and 116
The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry is pleased to announce the following Provisional Recommendation.
Abstract:
A joint IUPAC/IUPAP Working Party (JWP) has confirmed the discovery of the elements with atomic numbers 114 and 116. In accord with IUPAC procedures, the discoverers proposed names as follows: flerovium and symbol, Fl, for the element with Z = 114 and livermorium with the symbol Lv for the element with Z = 116. The Inorganic Chemistry Division recommended these proposals for acceptance.
For element with atomic number 114, the proposal lies within tradition and honours the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions where superheavy elements are synthesised. Georgiy N. Flerov (1913–1990) was a renowned physicist, author of the discovery of the spontaneous fission of uranium (1940, with Konstantin A. Petrzhak), pioneer in heavy-ion physics; and founder in the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research the Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions (1957).
For the element with atomic number 116, the proposed name livermorium is again in line with tradition and honours the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. A group of researchers of this Laboratory with the heavy element research group of the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions took part in the work carried out in Dubna on the synthesis of superheavy elements including element 116.
IUPAC seeks your comments
Comments should be submitted by 30 April 2012. The text of the Provisional Recommendation can be downloaded from http://media.iupac.org/reports/provisional/abstract11/corish_300412.html. Comments should be sent to Prof. John Corish at jcorish@tcd.ie.
Provisional Recommendations are drafts of IUPAC recommendations comprising topics on terminology, nomenclature, and symbols. These recommendations are made widely available to allow interested parties to comment before the recommendations are finally revised and published in Pure and Applied Chemistry.
For questions, contact Dr. Terrence Renner, Executive Director, at secretariat@iupac.org.