Argonne History

Innovation and Serendipity

The role of chemists at the Metallurgical Laboratory was critical to achieving a chain reaction. Production of transuranic elements was in its infancy in the early 1940s. Met Lab chemists had the seemingly impossible task of separating plutonium from uranium in the race to harness an awesome new energy. That early record of innovation continues through today. Historical highlights covered here include the discovery of man-made elements, the creation of the world's first nobel-gas compounds, the discovery of the hydrated electron and pioneering research on organic compounds and proteins.

Man-Made Elements

Chicago Pile 1, the first reactor, produced plutonium. Met Lab chemists had the seemingly impossible task of separating plutonium from uranium in the race to harness an awsome new energy. (Click the image to see a larger photo.)

Argonne chemists moved beyond production of transuranium elements to transplutonium elements and participated in their discovery. In the 1950s, laboratory chemists co-discovered the man-made elements 99, 100 and 102, einsteinium, fermium, and nobelium, respectively. The discovery of element 102 was an international effort. Discovered in early 1957 at the Nobel Institute, element 102 was produced by bombarding curium with carbon ions accelerated in a cyclotron. Argonne chemists also made unique contributions to the production, separation and characterization of these elements and their isotopes.

Noble Gases

In 1962, three Argonne scientists made a chemical reaction previously thought impossible. They combined the "noble gas" xenon, thought to be inert and non-reactive, with the highly reactive element fluorine to produce xenon tetrafluoride. It was an important discovery and opened a whole new research area in chemical bonding. Chemists at the laboratory also determined that radon, another noble gas, is capable of producing chemical compounds. With these breakthroughs in the chemistry of the noble gases, the laboratory was preeminent in the field. In April 1963, Argonne held the first-ever conference on the chemistry of rare gases.

The Hydrated Electron

The discovery and analysis of the role of short-lived fragments, such as the hydrated electron, have led to a better understanding of radiation chemistry. Argonne chemist Edwin Hort found the hydrated electron. (Click the image to see a larger photo.)

In early 1963, a "new" ion—the hydrated electron—was discovered by an Argonne chemist and a British colleague. It was a major breakthrough because it elucidated previously unexplained chemistry.

Its discovery, however, was serendipitous. The Argonne researcher said they were not looking for the hydrated electron. They were doing research on pulsed radiation of water when, unexpectedly, the spectrograph they were using indicated a blue absorption band—it was the new hydrated electron. The discovery and analyses of the roles of the hydrated electron and other short-lived fragments have led to a better understanding of radiation chemistry.

Organic Compounds and Proteins

Other pioneering research was done on "isotopic substitution" in organic compounds, including the first complete substitutions of deuterium (heavy hydrogen) for ordinary hydrogen in living organisms, both plant and animal cells.Argonne scientists were the first to demonstrate the origin of the triplet state in primary charge separation in photosynthesis. This phenomenon and its associated radical pair serve as the definitive "fingerprint signatures" of both natural and artificial photosynthesis. The second crystal structure of a membrane-bound protein was obtained by Argonne chemists. This demonstrated to the scientific world that crystal-lization of membrane proteins was generally feasible. It also confirmed the work of German chemists who obtained the first membrane protein crystal structure, for which they received the Nobel Prize.