Dr. Dixon’s research highlighted by DOE

A computational study by Dr. David Dixon and coworkers that shows Bk(5+) and Cf(5+) are unusually stable was recently highlighted by the Department of Energy. The work was originally published in Chemistry–A European Journal (2017, 23, 17369).  These unstable elements are only available in minute quantities, which makes chemical studies difficult.  Through high level computational modeling, Dr. Dixon’s group showed that that oxides of berkelium(V) and californium(V) unexpectedly have stabilities similar to the earlier actinides.  This work shows that the +5 oxidation state is stable further into the actinide series than expected.