Abstract
Owing to the kindness of Dr. Noddack, who provided me with a sample of the heptoxide of his recently discovered element rhenium, I have been able to obtain its mass spectrum. Re2O7 is a slightly volatile greenish crystalline solid. Its vapour was first admitted to the discharge like that of osmium tetroxide, but with no success. The solid was then introduced into the discharge tube and heated in the cathode ray beam, but although the volatilisation was ultimately such as to cause a visible dark layer on the surrounding walls, not the slightest sign of its mass spectrum could be obtained. The substance seemed hopeless, so I proceeded to my next investigation, which was an attempt to get the mass spectrum of gold by volatilising its chloride. This compound is unstable and, as the presence of halogens had on some previous occasions brought out the lines of other bodies in a remarkable way, it seemed just worth while to volatilise it in the discharge tube before the rhenium oxide deposit had been removed from the walls. This procedure was successful beyond all expectation. Although no lines of gold were visible, the doublet lines of rhenium appeared in great intensity and in addition were repeated 16, 32, and 48 units higher as ReO, ReO2, and ReO3, so giving unusually convincing evidence of its constitution.
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ASTON, F. Constitution of Rhenium. Nature 127, 591 (1931). https://doi.org/10.1038/127591a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/127591a0
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