Ruthenium

Notable characteristics

A polyvalent hard white metal, ruthenium is a member of the titanium is increased markedly by the addition of a small amount of ruthenium.

This metal can be plated either through electrodeposition or by thermal decomposition methods. One ruthenium-oxidation states of ruthenium range from +1 to +8, and -2 is known, though oxidation states of +2, +3, and +4 are most common.

Applications

Due to its ability to harden platinum and palladium, ruthenium is used in platinum and palladium titanium to improve its corrosion resistance a hundredfold.^[2]

Ruthenium is also used in some advanced high-temperature single-crystal superalloys, with applications including the turbine blades in jet engines.

Fountain pen nibs are frequently tipped with alloys containing ruthenium. From 1944 onward, the famous Parker 51 fountain pen was fitted with the "RU" nib, a 14K gold nib tipped with 96.2% ruthenium and 3.8% iridium.

Ruthenium is also a versatile catalyst. oil refineries and from other industrial processes.

Ruthenium is a component of mixed-metal oxide (MMO) anodes used for cathodic protection of underground and submerged structures, and for electrolytic cells for chemical processes such as generating chlorine from saltwater.

Organometallic ruthenium olefin metathesis with important applications in organic and pharmaceutical chemistry.

Some ruthenium complexes absorb light throughout the visible spectrum and are being actively researched in various, potential, solar energy technologies. Ruthenium-based dyes have been used as the electron providers in dye-sensitized solar cells, a promising new low-cost solar cell system.

The optode sensors for oxygen.

pectin and nucleic acids for light microscopy and electron microscopy.

Ruthenium-centered complexes are being researched for possible anticancer properties. Ruthenium, unlike traditional platinum complexes, show greater resistance to hydrolysis and more selective action on tumors. NAMI-A and KP1019 are two drugs undergoing clinical evaluation against metastatic tumors and colon cancers.

In 1990, IBM scientists discovered that a thin layer of ruthenium atoms created a strong anti-parallel coupling between adjacent ferromagnetic layers, stronger than any other nonmagnetic spacer-layer element. Such a ruthenium layer was used in the first giant magnetoresistive read element for hard disk drives. In 2001, IBM announced a three-atom-thick layer of the element ruthenium, informally referred to as pixie dust, which would allow a quadrupling of the data density of current hard disk drive media.^[3]

History

Ruthenium was aqua regia.

aqua regia. Berzelius did not find any unusual metals, but Osann thought he found three new metals and named one of them ruthenium.

The name derives from Ruthenia, the Latin word for Rus', a historical area which gave birth to the Russian nation and includes present-day western Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and parts of Slovakia and Poland. Karl Klaus named the element in honour of his birthland, as he was born in Tartu, Estonia, which was at the time a part of the Russian Empire.

It is also possible that Polish chemist Jędrzej Śniadecki isolated element 44 (which he called vestium) from platinum ores in 1807. However his work was never confirmed, and he later withdrew his claim of discovery.

Occurrence

Normal mining

This element is generally found in ores with the other platinum group metals in the Ural Mountains and in North and South America. Small but commercially important quantities are also found in pyroxenite deposits in South Africa.

Ruthenium is exceedingly rare and is the 74th most abundant metal on earth [Nature's Building Block, John Emsley, Oxford University Press,2001]. Roughly 12MT of Ru is mined each year with world reserves estimated to be 5000mt [Nature's Building Block, John Emsley, Oxford University Press,2001].

This metal is commercially isolated through a complex chemical process in which argon-arc welding.

From used nuclear fuels

It is also possible to extract ruthenium from used nuclear fuel. Each kilo of fission products of ²³⁵U will contain 63.44 grams of ruthenium isotopes with halflives longer than a day. Since a typical used nuclear fuel contains about 3% fission products, one ton of used fuel will contain about 1.9 kg of ruthenium. The ¹⁰³Ru and ¹⁰⁶Ru will render the fission ruthenium very radioactive. If the fission occurs in an instant then the ruthenium thus formed will have an activity due to ¹⁰³Ru of 109 TBq g^-1 and ¹⁰⁶Ru of 1.52 TBq g^-1. Ru 103 has a half life of about 39 days meaning that within 390 days it will have effectively decayed to ground state, well before any reprocessing is likely to occur. Ru 106 has a half life of about 373 days meaning that if the fuel is let to cool for 5 years before reprocessing only about 3% of the original quantity will remain, the rest will have decayed to ground state.

 

See also Ruthenium minerals.

Compounds

Ruthenium ruthenium(III) chloride (RuCl₃).

See also Ruthenium compounds.

Isotopes

Main article: isotopes of ruthenium

Naturally occurring ruthenium is composed of seven half-life of 373.59 days, ¹⁰³Ru with a half-life of 39.26 days and ⁹⁷Ru with a half-life of 2.9 days.

Fifteen other radioisotopes have been characterized with u (⁹⁰Ru) to 114.928 u (¹¹⁵Ru). Most of these have half-lives that are less than five minutes except ⁹⁵Ru (half-life: 1.643 hours) and ¹⁰⁵Ru (half-life: 4.44 hours).

The primary rhodium.

Organometallic chemistry

It is quite easy to form compounds with carbon ruthenium bonds, as these compounds tend to be darker and react more quickly than the boron atom binds to the metal atom^[4].

The organometallic ruthenium compound that is easiest to make is RuHCl(CO)(PPh₃)₃. This compound has two forms (yellow and pink) that are identical once they are dissolved but different in the solid state.

An organometallic compound similar to Fischer-Tropsch synthesis of transportation fuels.

Important Roper's complex.

Precautions

The compound bio-accumulates in bone.

References

1. ^ Ruthenium: ruthenium(I) fluoride compound data. OpenMOPAC.net. Retrieved on 2007-12-10.
2. ^ It's Elemental - Ruthenium
3. ^ Brian Hayes, Terabyte Territory, American Scientist, Vol 90 No 3 (May-June 2002) p. 212
4. ^ - Professor Anthony Hill - Current Research
5. ^ Ruthenium Tetroxide and Other Ruthenium Compounds?
6. ^ INHALATION OF RADIONUCLIDES AND CARCINOGENESIS

• Los Alamos National Laboratory – Ruthenium