Ununquadium

Ununquadium (symbol Uuq) was the temporary systematic name for the element with atomic number 114. It was used by IUPAC from the discovery era until its official naming in 2012.

In 1999–2000, scientists at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory synthesized element 114 by bombarding a plutonium-244 target with a calcium-48 beam, producing atoms that decayed by alpha emission and were consistent with the formation of a new superheavy element in the seventh period.

The IUPAC systematic name ununquadium (Uuq) derives from Latin roots for one-one-four. In 2012, IUPAC approved the name flerovium (Fl) in honor of the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions at JINR.

Flerovium is a synthetic, highly unstable superheavy element. No stable isotopes exist, and all known isotopes have very short half-lives, limiting practical study. It has been produced in extremely small quantities in particle accelerators, and its chemistry is not well established.

Predictions based on relativistic quantum chemistry place flerovium as a heavier member of the group 14 elements, with properties influenced by relativistic effects. As a result, its chemical behavior may differ from lighter elements, and research into its compounds is ongoing.