Abstract: A fundamental outcome of modern nuclear theory is the prediction of the "island of stability" in the region of hypothetical superheavy elements. A significant enhancement in nuclear stability at approaching the closed shells with Z = 114 (possibly 120 and 122) and N = 184 is expected for the nuclei with large neutron excess. For this reason, for the synthesis of nuclei with Z = 112-116 and 118, we chose the reactions ²³⁸U, ^242,244Pu, ²⁴³Am, ^245,248Cm, and ²⁴⁹Cf + ⁴⁸Ca, which are characterized by fusion products with a maximal neutron excess. The formation and decay properties of the heaviest nuclei were registered with the use of a gas-filled recoil separator installed at a 48Ca-beam of the heavy-ion cyclotron. The new nuclides mainly undergo sequential α-decay, which ends with spontaneous fission (SF). The total time of decay ranges from 0.5 ms to ~1 d, depending on the proton and neutron numbers in the synthesized nuclei. The atomic number of the new elements 115 and 113 was confirmed also by an independent radiochemical experiment based on the identification of the neutron-rich isotope ²⁶⁸Db (TSF ~ 30 h), the final product in the chain of α-decays of the odd-odd parent nucleus 288115. The comparison of the decay properties of 29 new nuclides with Z = 104-118 and N = 162-177 gives evidence of the decisive influence of the structure of superheavy elements on their stability with respect to different modes of radioactive decay. The investigations connected with the search for superheavy elements in Nature are also presented.

Synthesis and decay properties of superheavy elements, Oganessian, Yuri , Pure and Applied Chemistry, 2006, Volume 78, Issue 5, p.889 - 904, (2006)

It is claimed that recent experimental results involving the bomabardment of americium-243 with calcium-48 ions are consistent with the formation in the laboratory of a few atoms of elements 113 and 115. In experiments conducted at the JINR U400 cyclotron with the Dubna gas-filled separator between July 14 and Aug. 10, 2003, atomic decay patterns were observed that are said to confirm the existence of element 115 and element 113. In these decay chains, element 113 is produced via the alpha decay of element 115.1

The news has been picked up in a number of online sources including Nature2 and elsewhere.

• 1. Experiments on the synthesis of element 115 in the reaction 243Am(48Ca,xn)291−x115,
  Oganessian, Y. T., Utyonkov V., Lobanov Y. V., Abdullin F. S., Polyakov A., Shirokovsky I., Tsyganov Y. S., Gulbekian G., Bogomolov S., Mezentsev A., et al.
  , Physical Review C, 2/2004, Volume 69, Issue 2, (2004)
  
• 2. Modern alchemists make two new elements,
  Peplow, Mark
  , Nature, 2/2004, (2004)