actinides
Synonyms
Examples
All actinides are radioactive and release energy upon radioactive decay; naturally occurring uranium and thorium, and synthetically produced plutonium are the most abundant actinides on Earth.
Another possible way to separate the trivalent actinides is via solvent extraction chromatography using bis-(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid (abbreviated as HDEHP) as the stationary organic phase and nitric acid as the mobile aqueous phase.
Compared to the lanthanides, which (except for promethium ) are found in nature in appreciable quantities, most actinides are rare.
Coordination numbers are normally between two and nine, but large numbers of ligands are not uncommon for the lanthanides and actinides.
All but one of the actinides are f-block elements, corresponding to the filling of the 5f electron shell ; lawrencium, a d-block element, is also generally considered an actinide.
Americium is relatively soft and easily deformable and has a significantly lower bulk modulus than the actinides before it: Th, Pa, U, Np and Pu.