Confirmation of the decay of 283112 and first indication for Hg-like behavior of element 112

Two gas phase adsorption chemistry experiments aimed at the chemical characterization of element 112 using its isotope (283)112 have been performed at the Flerov Laboratory for Nuclear Reactions (FLNR) Dubna, Russia. The applied Insitu-Volatilization and On-line Detection (IVO) technique is a thermochromatographic system combining the determination of the deposition temperature of volatile elements on a surface along a temperature gradient with an efficient detection of the deposited species by event-by-event alpha and SF-fragment spectroscopy. Two possibilities to produce the isotope (283)112 were used: 1.) the direct production reaction U-238(Ca-48,3n)(238)112; 2.) the reaction Pu-242 (Ca-48,3n), where the primary product (287)114, decays via alpha emission to (283)112 with a half-life of 0.5 s. The chemistry experiments were aimed at a chemical identification of (283)112 and an independent confirmation of its decay properties. In the direct reaction no decays related to (283)112 were observed. However, two decay chains unambiguously attributed to the decay of (283)112 were observed using the second production path. Previously reported observation of (283)112 and (279)Ds and their decay properties were confirmed. From its thermochromatorgaphic deposition first thermochernical data were deduced for element 112, unveiling it as a typical group 12 element.