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.
 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.
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 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.
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.
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