Editing Einsteinium (section)

===Laboratory synthesis===
Heavy neutron irradiation of plutonium results in four major isotopes of einsteinium: {{sup|253}}Es (α-emitter; half-life 20.47 days, spontaneous fission half-life 7×10{{sup|5}} years); {{sup|254m}}Es (β-emitter, half-life 39.3 hours), {{sup|254}}Es (α-emitter, half-life 276 days) and {{sup|255}}Es (β-emitter, half-life 39.8 days).<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Jones|first1=M.|last2=Schuman|first2=R.|last3=Butler|first3=J.|last4=Cowper|first4=G.|last5=Eastwood|first5=T.|last6=Jackson|first6=H.|title=Isotopes of Einsteinium and Fermium Produced by Neutron Irradiation of Plutonium|journal=Physical Review|volume=102|issue=1|pages=203–207|date=1956|doi=10.1103/PhysRev.102.203|bibcode = 1956PhRv..102..203J }}</ref>{{NUBASE2016|ref}} An alternative route involves bombardment of uranium-238 with high-intensity nitrogen or oxygen ion beams.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Guseva|first1=L.|last2=Filippova|first2=K.|last3=Gerlit|first3=Y.|last4=Druin|first4=V.|last5=Myasoedov|first5=B.|last6=Tarantin|first6=N.|title=Experiments on the production of einsteinium and fermium with a cyclotron|journal=Journal of Nuclear Energy|volume=3|pages=341–346|date=1956|doi=10.1016/0891-3919(56)90064-X|issue=4}}</ref>

{{sup|247}}Es (half-life 4.55 min) was produced by irradiating {{sup|241}}Am with carbon or {{sup|238}}U with nitrogen ions.<ref name="Binder">Harry H. Binder: ''Lexikon der chemischen Elemente'', S. Hirzel Verlag, Stuttgart 1999, {{ISBN|3-7776-0736-3}}, pp. 18–23.</ref> The latter reaction was first realized in 1967 in Dubna, Russia, and the involved scientists were awarded the [[Lenin Komsomol Prize]].<ref>[http://n-t.ru/ri/ps/pb099.htm Эйнштейний] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210519093938/http://n-t.ru/ri/ps/pb099.htm |date=2021-05-19 }} (in Russian, a popular article by one of the involved scientists)</ref>

{{sup|248}}Es was produced by irradiating {{sup|249}}Cf with [[deuterium]] ions. It mainly β-decays  to {{sup|248}}Cf with a half-life of {{val|25|5}} minutes, but also releases 6.87-MeV α-particles; the ratio of β's to α-particles is about 400.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Chetham-Strode|first1=A.|last2=Holm|first2=L.|title=New Isotope Einsteinium-248|journal=Physical Review|volume=104|pages=1314|date=1956|doi=10.1103/PhysRev.104.1314|issue=5|bibcode = 1956PhRv..104.1314C |s2cid=102836584 }}</ref>
:<math chem>\ce{^{249}_{98}Cf + ^{2}_{1}H -> ^{248}_{99}Es + 3^{1}_{0}n} \quad \left( \ce{^{248}_{99}Es ->[\epsilon][27 \ce{min}] ^{248}_{98}Cf} \right)</math>

{{sup|249, 250, 251, 252}}Es were obtained by bombarding {{sup|249}}Bk with α-particles. One to four neutrons are released, so four different isotopes are formed in one reaction.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Harvey|first1=Bernard|last2=Chetham-Strode|first2=Alfred|last3=Ghiorso|first3=Albert|last4=Choppin|first4=Gregory|last5=Thompson|first5=Stanley|title=New Isotopes of Einsteinium|journal=Physical Review|volume=104|pages=1315–1319|date=1956|doi=10.1103/PhysRev.104.1315|issue=5|bibcode=1956PhRv..104.1315H|url=http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/462945g3|access-date=2019-07-14|archive-date=2020-03-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200312004201/https://escholarship.org/uc/item/462945g3|url-status=live}}</ref>
:<chem>^{249}_{97}Bk ->[+\alpha] ^{249,250,251,252}_{99}Es</chem>

{{sup|253}}Es was produced by irradiating a 0.1–0.2 milligram {{sup|252}}Cf target with a [[thermal neutron]] flux of (2–5)×10{{sup|14}} neutrons/(cm{{sup|2}}·s) for 500–900 hours:<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Kulyukhin|first1=S.|title=Production of microgram quantities of einsteinium-253 by the reactor irradiation of californium|journal=Inorganica Chimica Acta|volume=110|pages=25–26|date=1985|doi=10.1016/S0020-1693(00)81347-X|last2=Auerman|first2=L. N.|last3=Novichenko|first3=V. L.|last4=Mikheev|first4=N. B.|last5=Rumer|first5=I. A.|last6=Kamenskaya|first6=A. N.|last7=Goncharov|first7=L. A.|last8=Smirnov|first8=A. I.}}</ref>
:<chem>^{252}_{98}Cf ->[\ce{(n,\gamma)}] ^{253}_{98}Cf ->[\beta^-][17.81 \ce{d}] ^{253}_{99}Es</chem>

In 2020, scientists at ORNL created about 200 nanograms of {{sup|254}}Es; allowing some chemical properties of the element to be studied for the first time.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Structural and spectroscopic characterization of an einsteinium complex|date=3 February 2021|access-date=3 February 2021|url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-03179-3|journal=Nature|volume=590|pages=85–88|doi=10.1038/s41586-020-03179-3|first1=Korey P.|last1=Carter|first2=Katherine M.|last2=Shield|first3=Kurt F.|last3=Smith|first4=Zachary R.|last4=Jones|first5=Jennifer N.|last5=Wacker|first6=Leticia|last6=Arnedo-Sanchez|first7=Tracy M.|last7=Mattox|first8=Liane M.|last8=Moreau|first9=Karah E.|last9=Knope|first10=Stosh A.|last10=Kozimor|first11=Corwin H.|last11=Booth|first12=Rebecca J.|last12=Abergel|issue=7844|pmid=33536647|bibcode=2021Natur.590...85C|osti=1777970 |s2cid=231805413|archive-date=3 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210203162013/https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-03179-3|url-status=live}}</ref>