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The Rare Earths, a Challenge to Mendeleev, No Less Today

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150 Years of the Periodic Table

Part of the book series: Perspectives on the History of Chemistry ((PHC))

Abstract

Mendeleev’s first periodic table (1869) included just five rare earth elements. This article traces the discovery and isolation of the rare earths—scandium, yttrium and the lanthanides—a process that extended until 1947, as well as the efforts to locate them in the periodic system. The striking similarity of the chemistry of the metals has made their isolation in a pure state a challenge. Developments in their chemistry extending up to the present day are considered, including extending the range of their coordination numbers, an increasing number of compounds in unusual oxidation states, and most recently lanthanide-containing enzymes, raising questions about their role in living systems.

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Acknowledgements

The author is grateful to the editors, especially Professor Gregory Girolami, for a great deal of assistance during the production of this chapter.

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  1. School of Chemistry, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK

    Simon A. Cotton

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  1. Department of Chemistry, Le Moyne College, Syracuse, NY, USA

    Carmen J. Giunta

  2. School of Chemical Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA

    Vera V. Mainz

  3. School of Chemical Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA

    Gregory S. Girolami

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Cotton, S.A. (2021). The Rare Earths, a Challenge to Mendeleev, No Less Today. In: Giunta, C.J., Mainz, V.V., Girolami, G.S. (eds) 150 Years of the Periodic Table. Perspectives on the History of Chemistry. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67910-1_11

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