DETERMINATION OF THE No(II)--No(III) POTENTIAL FROM TRACER EXPERIMENTS.

Abstract The value of the standard oxidation potential of the No(II)No(III) couple in aqueous solution was estimated from the average behavior observed during repetitive series of experiments with 50–100 atoms per experiment. The distinction between No(II) and No(III) was made on a few atoms at a time basis by multiple solvent extractions with di(2-ethylhexyl)orthophosphoric acid (HDEHP) using the column elution technique of extraction chromatography. By comparing the extraction of nobelium from dilute acid solutions containing different oxidants with the extraction behavior of tracer quantities of radioactive elements of known standard oxidation potentials, the standard potential of the half-reaction No(II)No(III)+ e − was estimated to be −1·4 to −1·5 V.