Rhenium

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Rhenium,  ₇₅Re

Rhenium
Pronunciation	/ˈriːniəm/ ​(REE-nee-əm)
Appearance	silvery-grayish
Standard atomic weight Ar, std(Re)	186.207(1)
Rhenium in the periodic table
Hydrogen Helium Lithium Beryllium Boron Carbon Nitrogen Oxygen Fluorine Neon Sodium Magnesium Aluminium Silicon Phosphorus Sulfur Chlorine Argon Potassium Calcium Scandium Titanium Vanadium Chromium Manganese Iron Cobalt Nickel Copper Zinc Gallium Germanium Arsenic Selenium Bromine Krypton Rubidium Strontium Yttrium Zirconium Niobium Molybdenum Technetium Ruthenium Rhodium Palladium Silver Cadmium Indium Tin Antimony Tellurium Iodine Xenon Caesium Barium Lanthanum Cerium Praseodymium Neodymium Promethium Samarium Europium Gadolinium Terbium Dysprosium Holmium Erbium Thulium Ytterbium Lutetium Hafnium Tantalum Tungsten Rhenium Osmium Iridium Platinum Gold Mercury (element) Thallium Lead Bismuth Polonium Astatine Radon Francium Radium Actinium Thorium Protactinium Uranium Neptunium Plutonium Americium Curium Berkelium Californium Einsteinium Fermium Mendelevium Nobelium Lawrencium Rutherfordium Dubnium Seaborgium Bohrium Hassium Meitnerium Darmstadtium Roentgenium Copernicium Nihonium Flerovium Moscovium Livermorium Tennessine Oganesson Tc ↑ Re ↓ Bh tungsten ← rhenium → osmium
Atomic number (Z)	75
Group	group 7
Period	period 6
Block	d-block
Element category	Transition metal
Electron configuration	[Xe] 4f14 5d5 6s2
Electrons per shell	2, 8, 18, 32, 13, 2
Physical properties
Phase at STP	solid
Melting point	3459 K ​(3186 °C, ​5767 °F)
Boiling point	5903 K ​(5630 °C, ​10,170 °F)
Density (near r.t.)	21.02 g/cm3
when liquid (at m.p.)	18.9 g/cm3
Heat of fusion	60.43 kJ/mol
Heat of vaporization	704 kJ/mol
Molar heat capacity	25.48 J/(mol·K)
Vapor pressure P (Pa) 1 10 100 1 k 10 k 100 k at T (K) 3303 3614 4009 4500 5127 5954
Atomic properties
Oxidation states	−3, −1, 0, +1, +2, +3, +4, +5, +6, +7 (a mildly acidic oxide)
Electronegativity	Pauling scale: 1.9
Ionization energies	1st: 760 kJ/mol 2nd: 1260 kJ/mol 3rd: 2510 kJ/mol
Atomic radius	empirical: 137 pm
Covalent radius	151±7 pm
Spectral lines of rhenium
Other properties
Natural occurrence	primordial
Crystal structure	​hexagonal close-packed (hcp)
Speed of sound thin rod	4700 m/s (at 20 °C)
Thermal expansion	6.2 µm/(m·K)
Thermal conductivity	48.0 W/(m·K)
Electrical resistivity	193 nΩ·m (at 20 °C)
Magnetic ordering	paramagnetic
Magnetic susceptibility	+67.6·10−6 cm3/mol (293 K)
Young's modulus	463 GPa
Shear modulus	178 GPa
Bulk modulus	370 GPa
Poisson ratio	0.30
Mohs hardness	7.0
Vickers hardness	1350–7850 MPa
Brinell hardness	1320–2500 MPa
CAS Number	7440-15-5
History
Naming	after the river Rhine (German: Rhein)
Discovery	Masataka Ogawa (1908)
First isolation	Masataka Ogawa (1919)
Named by	Walter Noddack, Ida Noddack, Otto Berg (1925)
Main isotopes of rhenium
Iso­tope Abun­dance Half-life (t1/2) Decay mode Pro­duct 185Re 37.4% stable 187Re 62.6% 4.12×1010 y β− 187Os

Rhenium is a chemical element with the symbol Re and atomic number 75. It is a silvery-gray, heavy, third-row transition metal in group 7 of the periodic table. With an estimated average concentration of 1 part per billion (ppb), rhenium is one of the rarest elements in the Earth's crust. Rhenium has the third-highest melting point and highest boiling point of any stable element at 5903 K. Rhenium resembles manganese and technetium chemically and is mainly obtained as a by-product of the extraction and refinement of molybdenum and copper ores. Rhenium shows in its compounds a wide variety of oxidation states ranging from −1 to +7.

Discovered in 1908, rhenium was the second-last stable element to be discovered. It was named after the river Rhine in Europe.

Nickel-based superalloys of rhenium are used in the combustion chambers, turbine blades, and exhaust nozzles of jet engines. These alloys contain up to 6% rhenium, making jet engine construction the largest single use for the element. The second-most important use is as a catalyst: rhenium is an excellent catalyst for hydrogenation and isomerization, and is used for example in catalytic reforming of naphtha for use in gasoline (rheniforming process). Because of the low availability relative to demand, rhenium is expensive, with price reaching an all-time high in 2008/2009 US$10,600 per kilogram (US$4,800 per pound). Due to increases in rhenium recycling and a drop in demand for rhenium in catalysts, the price of rhenium has dropped to US$2,844 per kilogram (US$1,290 per pound) as of July 2018.

History

Rhenium (Latin: Rhenus meaning: "Rhine") was the second last-discovered of the elements that have a stable isotope (other new elements discovered in nature since then, such as francium, are radioactive). The existence of a yet-undiscovered element at this position in the periodic table had been first predicted by Dmitri Mendeleev. Other calculated information was obtained by Henry Moseley in 1914. In 1908, Japanese chemist Masataka Ogawa announced that he had discovered the 43rd element and named it nipponium (Np) after Japan (Nippon in Japanese). However, recent analysis indicated the presence of rhenium (element 75), not element 43, although this reinterpretation has been questioned by Eric Scerri. The symbol Np was later used for the element neptunium, and the name "nihonium", also named after Japan, along with symbol Nh, was later used for element 113. Element 113 was also discovered by a team of Japanese scientists and was named in respectful homage to Ogawa's work.

Rhenium is generally considered to have been discovered by Walter Noddack, Ida Noddack, and Otto Berg in Germany. In 1925 they reported that they had detected the element in platinum ore and in the mineral columbite. They also found rhenium in gadolinite and molybdenite. In 1928 they were able to extract 1 g of the element by processing 660 kg of molybdenite. It was estimated in 1968 that 75% of the rhenium metal in the United States was used for research and the development of refractory metal alloys. It took several years from that point before the superalloys became widely used.

Characteristics

Rhenium is a silvery-white metal with one of the highest melting points of all elements, exceeded by only tungsten and carbon. It also has one of the highest boiling points of all elements. It is also one of the densest, exceeded only by platinum, iridium and osmium. Rhenium has a hexagonal close-packed crystal structure, with lattice parameters a = 276.1 pm and c = 445.6 pm.

Its usual commercial form is a powder, but this element can be consolidated by pressing and sintering in a vacuum or hydrogen atmosphere. This procedure yields a compact solid having a density above 90% of the density of the metal. When annealed this metal is very ductile and can be bent, coiled, or rolled. Rhenium-molybdenum alloys are superconductive at 10 K; tungsten-rhenium alloys are also superconductive around 4–8 K, depending on the alloy. Rhenium metal superconducts at 1.697±0.006 K.

In bulk form and at room temperature and atmospheric pressure, the element resists alkalis, sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, dilute (but not concentrated) nitric acid, and aqua regia.

Isotopes

Rhenium has one stable isotope, rhenium-185, which nevertheless occurs in minority abundance, a situation found only in two other elements (indium and tellurium). Naturally occurring rhenium is only 37.4% ¹⁸⁵Re, and 62.6% ¹⁸⁷Re, which is unstable but has a very long half-life (≈10¹⁰ years). This lifetime can be greatly affected by the charge state of rhenium atom. The beta decay of ¹⁸⁷Re is used for rhenium-osmium dating of ores. The available energy for this beta decay (2.6 keV) is one of the lowest known among all radionuclides. The isotope rhenium-186m is notable as being one of the longest lived metastable isotopes with a half-life of around 200,000 years. There are twenty-five other recognized radioactive isotopes of rhenium.

Compounds

Rhenium compounds are known for all the oxidation states between −3 and +7 except −2. The oxidation states +7, +6, +4, and +2 are the most common. Rhenium is most available commercially as salts of perrhenate, including sodium and ammonium perrhenates. These are white, water-soluble compounds.

Halides and oxyhalides

The most common rhenium chlorides are ReCl₆, ReCl₅, ReCl₄, and ReCl₃. The structures of these compounds often feature extensive Re-Re bonding, which is characteristic of this metal in oxidation states lower than VII. Salts of [Re₂Cl₈]²⁻ feature a quadruple metal-metal bond. Although the highest rhenium chloride features Re(VI), fluorine gives the d⁰ Re(VII) derivative rhenium heptafluoride. Bromides and iodides of rhenium are also well known. 

Like tungsten and molybdenum, with which it shares chemical similarities, rhenium forms a variety of oxyhalides. The oxychlorides are most common, and include ReOCl₄, ReOCl₃.

Oxides and sulfides

Perrhenic acid (H₄Re₂O₉) adopts an unconventional structure.

 

The most common oxide is the volatile colourless Re₂O₇. Rhenium trioxide ReO₃ adopts a perovskite-like structure. Other oxides include Re₂O₅, ReO₂, and Re₂O₃. The sulfides are ReS₂ and Re₂S₇. Perrhenate salts can be converted to tetrathioperrhenate by the action of ammonium hydrosulfide.

Other compounds

Rhenium diboride (ReB₂) is a hard compound having the hardness similar to that of tungsten carbide, silicon carbide, titanium diboride or zirconium diboride.

Organorhenium compounds

Dirhenium decacarbonyl is the most common entry to organorhenium chemistry. Its reduction with sodium amalgam gives Na[Re(CO)₅] with rhenium in the formal oxidation state −1. Dirhenium decacarbonyl can be oxidised with bromine to bromopentacarbonylrhenium(I):

Re₂(CO)₁₀ + Br₂ → 2 Re(CO)₅Br

Reduction of this pentacarbonyl with zinc and acetic acid gives pentacarbonylhydridorhenium:

Re(CO)₅Br + Zn + HOAc → Re(CO)₅H + ZnBr(OAc)

Methylrhenium trioxide ("MTO"), CH₃ReO₃ is a volatile, colourless solid has been used as a catalyst in some laboratory experiments. It can be prepared by many routes, a typical method is the reaction of Re₂O₇ and tetramethyltin:

Re₂O₇ + (CH₃)₄Sn → CH₃ReO₃ + (CH₃)₃SnOReO₃

Analogous alkyl and aryl derivatives are known. MTO catalyses for the oxidations with hydrogen peroxide. Terminal alkynes yield the corresponding acid or ester, internal alkynes yield diketones, and alkenes give epoxides. MTO also catalyses the conversion of aldehydes and diazoalkanes into an alkene.

Nonahydridorhenate

Structure of ReH

 

A distinctive derivative of rhenium is nonahydridorhenate, originally thought to be the rhenide anion, Re⁻, but actually containing the ReH²⁻
₉ anion in which the oxidation state of rhenium is +7.

Occurrence

Molybdenite

Rhenium is one of the rarest elements in Earth's crust with an average concentration of 1 ppb; other sources quote the number of 0.5 ppb making it the 77th most abundant element in Earth's crust. Rhenium is probably not found free in nature (its possible natural occurrence is uncertain), but occurs in amounts up to 0.2% in the mineral molybdenite (which is primarily molybdenum disulfide), the major commercial source, although single molybdenite samples with up to 1.88% have been found. Chile has the world's largest rhenium reserves, part of the copper ore deposits, and was the leading producer as of 2005. It was only recently that the first rhenium mineral was found and described (in 1994), a rhenium sulfide mineral (ReS₂) condensing from a fumarole on Kudriavy volcano, Iturup island, in the Kuril Islands. Kudriavy discharges up to 20–60 kg rhenium per year mostly in the form of rhenium disulfide. Named rheniite, this rare mineral commands high prices among collectors.

Production

Ammonium perrhenate

 

Commercial rhenium is extracted from molybdenum roaster-flue gas obtained from copper-sulfide ores. Some molybdenum ores contain 0.001% to 0.2% rhenium. Rhenium(VII) oxide and perrhenic acid readily dissolve in water; they are leached from flue dusts and gasses and extracted by precipitating with potassium or ammonium chloride as the perrhenate salts, and purified by recrystallization. Total world production is between 40 and 50 tons/year; the main producers are in Chile, the United States, Peru, and Poland. Recycling of used Pt-Re catalyst and special alloys allow the recovery of another 10 tons per year. Prices for the metal rose rapidly in early 2008, from $1000–$2000 per kg in 2003–2006 to over $10,000 in February 2008. The metal form is prepared by reducing ammonium perrhenate with hydrogen at high temperatures:

2 NH₄ReO₄ + 7 H₂ → 2 Re + 8 H₂O + 2 NH₃

Applications

The Pratt & Whitney F-100 engine uses rhenium-containing second-generation superalloys

 

Rhenium is added to high-temperature superalloys that are used to make jet engine parts, using 70% of the worldwide rhenium production. Another major application is in platinum–rhenium catalysts, which are primarily used in making lead-free, high-octane gasoline.

Alloys

The nickel-based superalloys have improved creep strength with the addition of rhenium. The alloys normally contain 3% or 6% of rhenium. Second-generation alloys contain 3%; these alloys were used in the engines for the F-15 and F-16, whereas the newer single-crystal third-generation alloys contain 6% of rhenium; they are used in the F-22 and F-35 engines. Rhenium is also used in the superalloys, such as CMSX-4 (2nd gen) and CMSX-10 (3rd gen) that are used in industrial gas turbine engines like the GE 7FA. Rhenium can cause superalloys to become microstructurally unstable, forming undesirable TCP (topologically close packed) phases. In 4th- and 5th-generation superalloys, ruthenium is used to avoid this effect. Among others the new superalloys are EPM-102 (with 3% Ru) and TMS-162 (with 6% Ru), as well as TMS-138 and TMS-174.

CFM International CFM56 jet engine still with blades made with 3% rhenium

 

For 2006, the consumption is given as 28% for General Electric, 28% Rolls-Royce plc and 12% Pratt & Whitney, all for superalloys, whereas the use for catalysts only accounts for 14% and the remaining applications use 18%. In 2006, 77% of the rhenium consumption in the United States was in alloys. The rising demand for military jet engines and the constant supply made it necessary to develop superalloys with a lower rhenium content. For example, the newer CFM International CFM56 high-pressure turbine (HPT) blades will use Rene N515 with a rhenium content of 1.5% instead of Rene N5 with 3%.

Rhenium improves the properties of tungsten. Tungsten-rhenium alloys are more ductile at low temperature, allowing them to be more easily machined. The high-temperature stability is also improved. The effect increases with the rhenium concentration, and therefore tungsten alloys are produced with up to 27% of Re, which is the solubility limit. Tungsten-rhenium wire was originally created in efforts to develop a wire that was more ductile after recrystallization. This allows the wire to meet specific performance objectives, including superior vibration resistance, improved ductility, and higher resistivity. One application for the tungsten-rhenium alloys is X-ray sources. The high melting point of both elements, together with their high atomic mass, makes them stable against the prolonged electron impact. Rhenium tungsten alloys are also applied as thermocouples to measure temperatures up to 2200 °C.

The high temperature stability, low vapor pressure, good wear resistance and ability to withstand arc corrosion of rhenium are useful in self-cleaning electrical contacts. In particular, the discharge occurring during the switching oxidizes the contacts. However, rhenium oxide Re₂O₇ has poor stability (sublimes at ~360 °C) and therefore is removed during the discharge.

Rhenium has a high melting point and a low vapor pressure similar to tantalum and tungsten. Therefore, rhenium filaments exhibit a higher stability if the filament is operated not in vacuum, but in oxygen-containing atmosphere. Those filaments are widely used in mass spectrometers, in ion gauges and in photoflash lamps in photography.

Catalysts

Rhenium in the form of rhenium-platinum alloy is used as catalyst for catalytic reforming, which is a chemical process to convert petroleum refinery naphthas with low octane ratings into high-octane liquid products. Worldwide, 30% of catalysts used for this process contain rhenium. The olefin metathesis is the other reaction for which rhenium is used as catalyst. Normally Re₂O₇ on alumina is used for this process. Rhenium catalysts are very resistant to chemical poisoning from nitrogen, sulfur and phosphorus, and so are used in certain kinds of hydrogenation reactions.

Other uses

The isotopes ¹⁸⁸Re and ¹⁸⁶Re are radioactive and are used for treatment of liver cancer. They both have similar penetration depth in tissue (5 mm for ¹⁸⁶Re and 11 mm for ¹⁸⁸Re), but ¹⁸⁶Re has advantage of longer lifetime (90 hours vs. 17 hours).

¹⁸⁸Re is also being used experimentally in a novel treatment of pancreatic cancer where it is delivered by means of the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes.

Related by periodic trends, rhenium has a similar chemistry to that of technetium; work done to label rhenium onto target compounds can often be translated to technetium. This is useful for radiopharmacy, where it is difficult to work with technetium – especially the 99m isotope used in medicine – due to its expense and short half-life.

Precautions

Very little is known about the toxicity of rhenium and its compounds because they are used in very small amounts. Soluble salts, such as the rhenium halides or perrhenates, could be hazardous due to elements other than rhenium or due to rhenium itself. Only a few compounds of rhenium have been tested for their acute toxicity; two examples are potassium perrhenate and rhenium trichloride, which were injected as a solution into rats. The perrhenate had an LD₅₀ value of 2800 mg/kg after seven days (this is very low toxicity, similar to that of table salt) and the rhenium trichloride showed LD₅₀ of 280 mg/kg.