Observation of a volatile astatine hydroxide species in online gas-adsorption thermochromatography experiments

During recent online gas-phase experiments with the transactinide elements copernicium (Cn, Z = 112) and flerovium (Fl, Z = 114), the transport of a volatile astatine species was observed. Comprehensive Monte Carlo simulations of the deposition pattern of At-211 on the given quartz, selenium, and gold chromatographic surfaces were carried out, and the corresponding adsorption enthalpies were estimated. Based on the astatine speciation from previous model experiments, the compound observed in this work was ascribed to AtOH/HAtO. The herein presented results assist in paving the way toward a future chemical characterization of tennessine (Ts, Z = 117) with similar gas adsorption chromatography techniques.