Lanthanum is a
chemical elementA chemical element is a pure chemical substance consisting of one type of atom distinguished by its atomic number, which is the number of protons in its nucleus. Familiar examples of elements include carbon, oxygen, aluminum, iron, copper, gold, mercury, and lead.As of November 2011, 118 elements...
with the symbol
La and
atomic numberIn chemistry and physics, the atomic number is the number of protons found in the nucleus of an atom and therefore identical to the charge number of the nucleus. It is conventionally represented by the symbol Z. The atomic number uniquely identifies a chemical element...
57.
Lanthanum is a silvery white metallic element that belongs to group 3 of the periodic table and is the first element of the
lanthanideThe lanthanide or lanthanoid series comprises the fifteen metallic chemical elements with atomic numbers 57 through 71, from lanthanum through lutetium...
series. It is found in some rare-earth minerals, usually in combination with
ceriumCerium is a chemical element with the symbol Ce and atomic number 58. It is a soft, silvery, ductile metal which easily oxidizes in air. Cerium was named after the dwarf planet . Cerium is the most abundant of the rare earth elements, making up about 0.0046% of the Earth's crust by weight...
and other
rare earth elementAs defined by IUPAC, rare earth elements or rare earth metals are a set of seventeen chemical elements in the periodic table, specifically the fifteen lanthanides plus scandium and yttrium...
s. Lanthanum is a malleable, ductile, and soft metal that oxidizes rapidly when exposed to air. It is produced from the minerals
monaziteMonazite is a reddish-brown phosphate mineral containing rare earth metals. It occurs usually in small isolated crystals. There are actually at least four different kinds of monazite, depending on relative elemental composition of the mineral:...
and
bastnäsiteThe mineral bastnäsite is one of a family of three carbonate-fluoride minerals, which includes bastnäsite- with a formula of CO3F, bastnäsite- with a formula of CO3F, and bastnäsite- with a formula of CO3F. Most bastnäsite is bastnäsite-, and cerium is by far the most common of the rare earths in...
using a complex multistage extraction process. Lanthanum compounds have numerous applications as catalysts, additives in glass, carbon lighting for studio lighting and projection, ignition elements in
lighterA lighter is a portable device used to generate a flame. It consists of a metal or plastic container filled with a flammable fluid or pressurized liquid gas, a means of ignition, and some provision for extinguishing the flame.- History :...
s and torches,
electron cathodeIn vacuum tubes, a hot cathode is a cathode electrode which emits electrons due to thermionic emission. In the accelerator community, these are referred to as thermionic cathodes. The heating element is usually an electrical filament...
s,
scintillatorA scintillator is a special material, which exhibits scintillation—the property of luminescence when excited by ionizing radiation. Luminescent materials, when struck by an incoming particle, absorb its energy and scintillate, i.e., reemit the absorbed energy in the form of light...
s, and others.
Lanthanum carbonateLanthanum carbonate, La23, is the salt formed by lanthanum cations and carbonate anions. It is an ore of lanthanum metal, along with monazite.- Chemistry :...
(La
2(CO
3)
3) was approved as a medication against
renal failureHyperphosphatemia is an electrolyte disturbance in which there is an abnormally elevated level of phosphate in the blood. Often, calcium levels are lowered due to precipitation of phosphate with the calcium in tissues.-Signs and symptoms:...
.
Physical properties
Lanthanum is a soft, malleable, silvery white metal which has
hexagonalIn crystallography, the hexagonal crystal system is one of the 7 crystal systems, the hexagonal lattice system is one of the 7 lattice systems, and the hexagonal crystal family is one of the 6 crystal families...
crystal structure at room temperature. At 310 °C, lanthanum changes to a face-centered cubic structure, and at 865 °C into a body-centered cubic structure. Lanthanum easily is oxidized (a centimeter-sized sample will completely oxidize within a year) and is therefore used as in elemental form only for research purposes. For example, single La atoms have been isolated by implanting them into
fullereneA fullerene is any molecule composed entirely of carbon, in the form of a hollow sphere, ellipsoid, or tube. Spherical fullerenes are also called buckyballs, and they resemble the balls used in association football. Cylindrical ones are called carbon nanotubes or buckytubes...
molecules. If carbon nanotubes are filled with those lanthanum-encapsulated fullerenes and annealed, metallic nanochains of lanthanum are produced inside carbon nanotubes.
Chemical properties
Lanthanum exhibits two oxidation states, +3 and +2, the former being much more stable. For example, LaH
3 is more stable than LaH
2. Lanthanum burns readily at 150
°CCelsius is a scale and unit of measurement for temperature. It is named after the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius , who developed a similar temperature scale two years before his death...
to form
lanthanum(III) oxideLanthanum oxide is La2O3, an inorganic compound containing the rare earth element lanthanum and oxygen. It is used to develop ferroelectric materials, and in optical materials.-Properties:...
:
- 4 La + 3 O2 → 2 La2O3
However, when exposed to moist air at room temperature, lanthanum oxide forms a hydrated oxide with a large volume increase.
Lanthanum is quite electropositive and reacts slowly with cold water and quite quickly with hot water to form lanthanum hydroxide:
- 2 La (s) + 6 H2O (l) → 2 La(OH)3 (aq) + 3 H2 (g)
Lanthanum metal reacts with all the halogens. The reaction is vigorous if conducted at above 200 °C:
- 2 La (s) + 3 F2 (g) → 2 LaF3 (s)
- 2 La (s) + 3 Cl2 (g) → 2 LaCl3 (s)
- 2 La (s) + 3 Br2 (g) → 2 LaBr3 (s)
- 2 La (s) + 3 I2 (g) → 2 LaI3 (s)
Lanthanum dissolves readily in dilute
sulfuric acidSulfuric acid is a strong mineral acid with the molecular formula . Its historical name is oil of vitriol. Pure sulfuric acid is a highly corrosive, colorless, viscous liquid. The salts of sulfuric acid are called sulfates...
to form solutions containing the La(III) ions, which exist as [La(OH
2)
9]
3+ complexes:
- 2 La(s) + 3 H2SO4 (aq) → 2 La3+(aq) + 3 SO (aq) + 3 H2 (g)
Lanthanum combines with nitrogen, carbon, sulfur, phosphorus, boron, selenium, silicon and arsenic at elevated temperatures, forming binary compounds.
Isotopes
Naturally occurring lanthanum is composed of one stable (
139La) and one radioactive (
138La)
isotopeIsotopes are variants of atoms of a particular chemical element, which have differing numbers of neutrons. Atoms of a particular element by definition must contain the same number of protons but may have a distinct number of neutrons which differs from atom to atom, without changing the designation...
, with the stable isotope,
139La, being the most abundant (99.91%
natural abundanceIn chemistry, natural abundance refers to the abundance of isotopes of a chemical element as naturally found on a planet. The relative atomic mass of these isotopes is the atomic weight listed for the element in the periodic table...
). 38 radioisotopes have been characterized with the most stable being
138La with a
half-lifeHalf-life, abbreviated t½, is the period of time it takes for the amount of a substance undergoing decay to decrease by half. The name was originally used to describe a characteristic of unstable atoms , but it may apply to any quantity which follows a set-rate decay.The original term, dating to...
of 1.05×10
11 years, and
137La with a half-life of 60,000 years. Most of the remaining radioactive isotopes have half-lives that are less than 24 hours, and the majority of these have half-lives less than 1 minute. This element also has three meta states.
The isotopes of lanthanum range in
atomic weightAtomic weight is a dimensionless physical quantity, the ratio of the average mass of atoms of an element to 1/12 of the mass of an atom of carbon-12...
from 117
uThe unified atomic mass unit or dalton is a unit that is used for indicating mass on an atomic or molecular scale. It is defined as one twelfth of the rest mass of an unbound neutral atom of carbon-12 in its nuclear and electronic ground state, and has a value of...
(
117La) to 155 u (
155La).
History
The word
lanthanum comes from the Greek
λανθανω [lanthanō] = to lie hidden.
Lanthanum was discovered in 1839 by Swedish
chemistA chemist is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density and acidity. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms...
Carl Gustav Mosander, when he partially decomposed a sample of cerium nitrate by heating and treating the resulting salt with dilute
nitric acidNitric acid , also known as aqua fortis and spirit of nitre, is a highly corrosive and toxic strong acid.Colorless when pure, older samples tend to acquire a yellow cast due to the accumulation of oxides of nitrogen. If the solution contains more than 86% nitric acid, it is referred to as fuming...
. From the resulting solution, he isolated a new rare earth he called
lantana. Lanthanum was isolated in relatively pure form in 1923.
Lanthanum is the most strongly basic of all the trivalent lanthanides, and this property is what allowed Mosander to isolate and purify the salts of this element. Basicity separation as operated commercially involved the fractional precipitation of the weaker bases (such as
didymiumDidymium is a mixture of the elements praseodymium and neodymium. It is used in safety glasses for glassblowing and blacksmithing, especially when a gas powered forge is used, where it provides a filter which selectively blocks the yellowish light at 589 nm emitted by the hot sodium in the glass,...
) from nitrate solution by the addition of magnesium oxide or dilute ammonia gas. Purified lanthanum remained in solution. (The basicity methods were only suitable for lanthanum purification; didymium could not be efficiently further separated in this manner.) The alternative technique of fractional crystallization was invented by
Dmitri MendeleevDmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev , was a Russian chemist and inventor. He is credited as being the creator of the first version of the periodic table of elements...
, in the form of the double ammonium nitrate tetrahydrate, which he used to separate the less-soluble lanthanum from the more-soluble didymium in the 1870s. This system was used commercially in lanthanum purification until the development of practical solvent extraction methods that started in the late 1950s. (A detailed process using the double
ammonium nitrates to provide 99.99% pure lanthanum, neodymium concentrates and praseodymium concentrates is presented in Callow 1967, at a time when the process was just becoming obsolete.) As operated for lanthanum purification, the double ammonium nitrates were recrystallized from water. When later adapted by
Carl Auer von WelsbachCarl Auer Freiherr von Welsbach was an Austrian scientist and inventor who had a talent for not only discovering advances, but turning them into commercially successful products...
for the splitting of didymium, nitric acid was used as a solvent to lower the solubility of the system. Lanthanum is relatively easy to purify, since it has only one adjacent lanthanide, cerium, which itself is very readily removed due to its potential tetravalency.
The fractional crystallization purification of lanthanum as the double ammonium nitrate was sufficiently rapid and efficient, that lanthanum purified in this manner was not expensive. The Lindsay Chemical Division of American Potash and Chemical Corporation, for a while the largest producer of rare earths in the world, in a price list dated October 1, 1958 priced 99.9% lanthanum ammonium nitrate (oxide content of 29%) at $3.15 per pound, or $1.93 per pound in 50-pound quantities. The corresponding oxide (slightly purer at 99.99%) was priced at $11.70 or $7.15 per pound for the two quantity ranges. The price for their purest grade of oxide (99.997%) was $21.60 and $13.20, respectively.
Occurrence
Although lanthanum belongs to the element group called rare earth metals, it is not rare at all. Lanthanum is available in relatively large quantities (32 ppm in Earth’s crust). "Rare earths" got their name because they were indeed rare as compared to the "common" earths such as lime or magnesia, and historically only a few deposits were known.
MonaziteMonazite is a reddish-brown phosphate mineral containing rare earth metals. It occurs usually in small isolated crystals. There are actually at least four different kinds of monazite, depending on relative elemental composition of the mineral:...
(Ce, La, Th, Nd, Y)PO
4, and
bastnäsiteThe mineral bastnäsite is one of a family of three carbonate-fluoride minerals, which includes bastnäsite- with a formula of CO3F, bastnäsite- with a formula of CO3F, and bastnäsite- with a formula of CO3F. Most bastnäsite is bastnäsite-, and cerium is by far the most common of the rare earths in...
(Ce, La, Y)CO
3F, are the principal ores in which lanthanum occurs, in percentages of up to 25 to 38 percent of the total lanthanide content. In general, there is more lanthanum in bastnäsite than in monazite. Until 1949, bastnäsite was a rare and obscure mineral, not even remotely contemplated as a potential commercial source for lanthanides. In that year, the large deposit at the
Mountain Pass rare earth mineThe Mountain Pass rare earth mine is an open-pit mine of rare earth elements on the south flank of the Clark Mountain Range and just north of the unincorporated community of Mountain Pass, California, United States. The mine, owned by Molycorp Inc., once supplied most of the world's rare earth...
in
CaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
was discovered. This discovery alerted geologists to the existence of a new class of rare earth deposit, the rare-earth bearing
carbonatiteCarbonatites are intrusive or extrusive igneous rocks defined by mineralogic composition consisting of greater than 50 percent carbonate minerals. Carbonatites may be confused with marble, and may require geochemical verification....
, other examples of which soon surfaced, particularly in Africa and China.
Production
Lanthanum is most commonly obtained from monazite and bastnäsite. The mineral mixtures are crushed and ground. Monazite, because of its magnetic properties, can be separated by repeated electromagnetic separation. After separation, it is treated with hot concentrated
sulfuric acidSulfuric acid is a strong mineral acid with the molecular formula . Its historical name is oil of vitriol. Pure sulfuric acid is a highly corrosive, colorless, viscous liquid. The salts of sulfuric acid are called sulfates...
to produce water-soluble sulfates of rare earths. The acidic filtrates are partially neutralized with
sodium hydroxide to pH 3-4.
ThoriumThorium is a natural radioactive chemical element with the symbol Th and atomic number 90. It was discovered in 1828 and named after Thor, the Norse god of thunder....
precipitates out of solution as hydroxide and is removed. After that, the solution is treated with
ammonium oxalateAmmonium oxalate, C2H8N2O4, is an oxalate salt with ammonia. It is a constituent of some types of kidney stone. Found also in guano....
to convert rare earths to their insoluble
oxalateOxalate , is the dianion with formula C2O42− also written 22−. Either name is often used for derivatives, such as disodium oxalate, 2C2O42−, or an ester of oxalic acid Oxalate (IUPAC: ethanedioate), is the dianion with formula C2O42− also written (COO)22−. Either...
s. The oxalates are converted to oxides by annealing. The oxides are dissolved in
nitric acidNitric acid , also known as aqua fortis and spirit of nitre, is a highly corrosive and toxic strong acid.Colorless when pure, older samples tend to acquire a yellow cast due to the accumulation of oxides of nitrogen. If the solution contains more than 86% nitric acid, it is referred to as fuming...
that excludes one of the main components,
ceriumCerium is a chemical element with the symbol Ce and atomic number 58. It is a soft, silvery, ductile metal which easily oxidizes in air. Cerium was named after the dwarf planet . Cerium is the most abundant of the rare earth elements, making up about 0.0046% of the Earth's crust by weight...
, whose oxide is insoluble in HNO
3. Lanthanum is separated as a double salt with ammonium nitrate by crystallization. This salt is relatively less soluble than other rare earth double salts and therefore stays in the residue.
The most efficient separation routine for lanthanum salt from the rare-earth salt solution is, however,
ion exchangeIon exchange is an exchange of ions between two electrolytes or between an electrolyte solution and a complex. In most cases the term is used to denote the processes of purification, separation, and decontamination of aqueous and other ion-containing solutions with solid polymeric or mineralic 'ion...
. In this process, rare-earth ions are adsorbed onto suitable ion-exchange resin by exchange with hydrogen, ammonium or cupric ions present in the resin. The rare earth ions are then selectively washed out by a suitable complexing agent, such as ammonium citrate or nitrilotriacetate. Lanthanum can also be separated from a solution of rare earth nitrates by
liquid-liquid extractionLiquid–liquid extraction, also known as solvent extraction and partitioning, is a method to separate compounds based on their relative solubilities in two different immiscible liquids, usually water and an organic solvent. It is an extraction of a substance from one liquid phase into another liquid...
with a suitable organic liquid, such as tributyl phosphalate. Currently, the most widely used extractant for the purification of lanthanum and the other lanthanides is the 2-ethylhexyl ester of 2-ethylhexylphosphonic acid; this has better handling characteristics than the previously used bis-2-ethylhexyl phosphate.
Lanthanum metal is obtained from its oxide by heating it with
ammonium chlorideAmmonium chloride NH4Cl is an inorganic compound with the formula NH4Cl. It is a white crystalline salt that is highly soluble in water. Solutions of ammonium chloride are mildly acidic. Sal ammoniac is a name of natural, mineralogical form of ammonium chloride...
or fluoride and hydrofluoric acid at 300-400 °C to produce the chloride or fluoride:
- La2O3 + 6 NH4Cl → 2 LaCl3 + 6 NH3 + 3 H2O
This is followed by reduction with alkali or alkaline earth metals in vacuum or argon atmosphere:
- LaCl3 + 3 Li → La + 3 LiCl
Also, pure lanthanum can be produced by electrolysis of molten mixture of anhydrous LaCl
3 and NaCl or KCl at elevated temperatures.
Applications
The first historical application of lanthanum was in gas lantern
mantlesAn incandescent gas mantle, gas mantle, or Welsbach mantle is a device for generating bright white light when heated by a flame. The name refers to its original heat source, existing gas lights, which filled the streets of Europe and North America in the late 19th century, mantle referring to the...
. Carl Auer von Welsbach used a mixture of 60%
magnesium oxideMagnesium oxide , or magnesia, is a white hygroscopic solid mineral that occurs naturally as periclase and is a source of magnesium . It has an empirical formula of and consists of a lattice of Mg2+ ions and O2– ions held together by ionic bonds...
, 20% lanthanum oxide and 20% yttrium oxide which he called
Actinophor, and patented in 1885. The original mantles gave a green-tinted light and were not very successful, and his first company, which established a factory in
AtzgersdorfAtzgersdorf is a former municipality in Lower Austria that is now a part of the 23rd Viennese district Liesing. A small part of the former municipality today is part of the 12th Viennese district Meidling....
in 1887, failed in 1889.
Modern uses of lanthanum include:
- One material used for anodic material of nickel-metal hydride batteries is La(Ni3.6Mn0.4Al0.3Co0.7. Due to high cost to extract the other lanthanides a mischmetal
Mischmetal is an alloy of rare earth elements in various naturally occurring proportions. It is also called cerium mischmetal, rare earth mischmetal or misch metal. A typical composition includes approximately 50% cerium and 25% lanthanum, with small amounts of neodymium and praseodymium...
with more than 50% of lanthanum is used instead of pure lanthanum. The compound is an intermetallicIntermetallics or intermetallic compounds is a term that is used in a number of different ways. Most commonly it refers to solid-state phases involving metals. There is a "research definition" adhered to generally in scientific publications, and a wider "common use" term...
component of the AB5 type.
As most hybrid cars use nickel-metal hydride batteries, massive quantities of lanthanum are required for the production of hybrid automobiles. A typical hybrid automobile battery for a
Toyota PriusThe Toyota Prius is a full hybrid electric mid-size hatchback, formerly a compact sedan developed and manufactured by the Toyota Motor Corporation...
requires 10 to 15 kg (22-33 lb) of lanthanum. As engineers push the technology to increase fuel mileage, twice that amount of lanthanum could be required per vehicle.
- Hydrogen sponge alloys can contain lanthanum. These alloys are capable of storing up to 400 times their own volume of hydrogen gas in a reversible adsorption process. Heat energy is released every time they do so; therefore these alloys have possibilities in energy conservation systems.
- Mischmetal
Mischmetal is an alloy of rare earth elements in various naturally occurring proportions. It is also called cerium mischmetal, rare earth mischmetal or misch metal. A typical composition includes approximately 50% cerium and 25% lanthanum, with small amounts of neodymium and praseodymium...
, a pyrophoric alloy used in lighter flints, contains 25% to 45% lanthanum.
- Lanthanum oxide and the boride
]]Lanthanum hexaboride is an inorganic chemical, a boride of lanthanum. It is a refractory ceramic material that has a melting point of 2210 °C, and is insoluble in water and hydrochloric acid. It has a low work function and one of the highest electron emissivities known, and is stable in...
are used in electronic vacuum tubeIn electronics, a vacuum tube, electron tube , or thermionic valve , reduced to simply "tube" or "valve" in everyday parlance, is a device that relies on the flow of electric current through a vacuum...
s as hot cathodeIn vacuum tubes, a hot cathode is a cathode electrode which emits electrons due to thermionic emission. In the accelerator community, these are referred to as thermionic cathodes. The heating element is usually an electrical filament...
materials with strong emissivity of electronThe electron is a subatomic particle with a negative elementary electric charge. It has no known components or substructure; in other words, it is generally thought to be an elementary particle. An electron has a mass that is approximately 1/1836 that of the proton...
s. Crystals of LaB6]]Lanthanum hexaboride is an inorganic chemical, a boride of lanthanum. It is a refractory ceramic material that has a melting point of 2210 °C, and is insoluble in water and hydrochloric acid. It has a low work function and one of the highest electron emissivities known, and is stable in...
are used in high brightness, extended life, thermionic electron emission sources for electron microscopeAn electron microscope is a type of microscope that uses a beam of electrons to illuminate the specimen and produce a magnified image. Electron microscopes have a greater resolving power than a light-powered optical microscope, because electrons have wavelengths about 100,000 times shorter than...
s and Hall effect thrusterIn spacecraft propulsion, a Hall thruster is a type of ion thruster in which the propellant is accelerated by an electric field. Hall thrusters trap electrons in a magnetic field and then use the electrons to ionize propellant, efficiently accelerate the ions to produce thrust, and neutralize the...
s.
- Lanthanum fluoride (LaF3) is an essential component of a heavy fluoride glass named ZBLAN
Heavy metal fluoride glasses were accidentally discovered in 1975 by Poulain and Lucas at the University of Rennes in France, including a family of glasses ZBLAN with a composition ZrF4-BaF2-LaF3-AlF3-NaF....
. This glass has superior transmittance in the infrared range and is therefore used for fiber-optical communication systems.
- Cerium doped lanthanum bromide
Lanthanum bromide is an inorganic halide salt of lanthanum. When pure, it is a colorless white powder. The single crystals of LaBr3 are hexagonal crystals with melting point of 783°C. It is highly hygroscopic and water soluble. There are several hydrates, La3Br·X H2O, of the salt also known...
and lanthanum chlorideLanthanum bromide is an inorganic halide salt of lanthanum. When pure, it is a colorless white powder. The single crystals of LaBr3 are hexagonal crystals with melting point of 783°C. It is highly hygroscopic and water soluble. There are several hydrates, La3Br·X H2O, of the salt also known...
are the recent inorganic scintillatorA scintillator is a special material, which exhibits scintillation—the property of luminescence when excited by ionizing radiation. Luminescent materials, when struck by an incoming particle, absorb its energy and scintillate, i.e., reemit the absorbed energy in the form of light...
s which have a combination of high light yield, best energy resolution and fast response. Their high yield converts into superior energy resolution; moreover, the light output is very stable and quite high over a very wide range of temperatures, making it particularly attractive for high temperature applications. These scintillators are already widely used commercially in detectors of neutrons or gamma rays.
- Carbon arc lamps use a mixture of rare earth elements to improve the light quality. This applications, especially by the motion picture
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
industry for studio lighting and projection, consumed about 25% of the rare-earth compounds produced until the phase out of Carbon arc lamps.
- Lanthanum(III) oxide
Lanthanum oxide is La2O3, an inorganic compound containing the rare earth element lanthanum and oxygen. It is used to develop ferroelectric materials, and in optical materials.-Properties:...
(La2O3) improves the alkali resistance of glassGlass is an amorphous solid material. Glasses are typically brittle and optically transparent.The most familiar type of glass, used for centuries in windows and drinking vessels, is soda-lime glass, composed of about 75% silica plus Na2O, CaO, and several minor additives...
, and is used in making special optical glasses, such as infrared-absorbing glass, as well as cameraA camera is a device that records and stores images. These images may be still photographs or moving images such as videos or movies. The term camera comes from the camera obscura , an early mechanism for projecting images...
and telescopeA telescope is an instrument that aids in the observation of remote objects by collecting electromagnetic radiation . The first known practical telescopes were invented in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 1600s , using glass lenses...
lensesA lens is an optical device with perfect or approximate axial symmetry which transmits and refracts light, converging or diverging the beam. A simple lens consists of a single optical element...
, because of the high refractive indexIn optics the refractive index or index of refraction of a substance or medium is a measure of the speed of light in that medium. It is expressed as a ratio of the speed of light in vacuum relative to that in the considered medium....
and low dispersion of rare-earth glasses. Lanthanum oxide is also used as a grain growth additive during the liquid phase sinteringSintering is a method used to create objects from powders. It is based on atomic diffusion. Diffusion occurs in any material above absolute zero, but it occurs much faster at higher temperatures. In most sintering processes, the powdered material is held in a mold and then heated to a temperature...
of silicon nitrideSilicon nitride is a chemical compound of silicon and nitrogen. If powdered silicon is heated between 1300° and 1400°C in an atmosphere of nitrogen, trisilicon tetranitride, Si3N4, is formed. The silicon sample weight increases progressively due to the chemical combination of silicon and nitrogen...
and zirconium diborideZirconium diboride is a highly covalent refractory ceramic material with a hexagonal crystal structure. ZrB2 is an Ultra High Temperature Ceramic with a melting point of 3246 °C...
.
- Small amounts of lanthanum added to steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
improves its malleability, resistance to impact and ductilityIn materials science, ductility is a solid material's ability to deform under tensile stress; this is often characterized by the material's ability to be stretched into a wire. Malleability, a similar property, is a material's ability to deform under compressive stress; this is often characterized...
. Whereas addition of lanthanum to molybdenumMolybdenum , is a Group 6 chemical element with the symbol Mo and atomic number 42. The name is from Neo-Latin Molybdaenum, from Ancient Greek , meaning lead, itself proposed as a loanword from Anatolian Luvian and Lydian languages, since its ores were confused with lead ores...
decreases its hardness and sensitivity to temperature variations.
- Small amounts of lanthanum are present in many pool products to remove the phosphates that feed algae.
- Lanthanum oxide additive to tungsten is used in gas tungsten arc welding
Gas tungsten arc welding , also known as tungsten inert gas welding, is an arc welding process that uses a nonconsumable tungsten electrode to produce the weld...
electrodes, as a substitute for radioactive thoriumThorium is a natural radioactive chemical element with the symbol Th and atomic number 90. It was discovered in 1828 and named after Thor, the Norse god of thunder....
.
- Various compounds of lanthanum and other rare-earth elements (oxides, chlorides, etc.) are components of various catalysis, such as petroleum cracking catalysts.
- Lanthanum-barium radiometric dating
Radiometric dating is a technique used to date materials such as rocks, usually based on a comparison between the observed abundance of a naturally occurring radioactive isotope and its decay products, using known decay rates...
is used to estimate age of rocks and ores, though the technique has limited popularity.
- Lanthanum carbonate
Lanthanum carbonate, La23, is the salt formed by lanthanum cations and carbonate anions. It is an ore of lanthanum metal, along with monazite.- Chemistry :...
was approved as a medication (Fosrenol, Shire Pharmaceuticals) to absorb excess phosphateA phosphate, an inorganic chemical, is a salt of phosphoric acid. In organic chemistry, a phosphate, or organophosphate, is an ester of phosphoric acid. Organic phosphates are important in biochemistry and biogeochemistry or ecology. Inorganic phosphates are mined to obtain phosphorus for use in...
in cases of end-stage renal failureHyperphosphatemia is an electrolyte disturbance in which there is an abnormally elevated level of phosphate in the blood. Often, calcium levels are lowered due to precipitation of phosphate with the calcium in tissues.-Signs and symptoms:...
.
- Lanthanum fluoride is used in phosphor lamp coatings. Mixed with europium fluoride, it is also applied in the crystal membrane of fluoride ion-selective electrodes
A fluoride selective electrode is a type of ion selective electrode sensitive to the concentration of the fluoride ion. A common example is the lanthanum fluoride electrode.-Lanthanum fluoride electrode:...
.
- Like horseradish peroxidase
The enzyme horseradish peroxidase , found in horseradish, is used extensively in biochemistry applications primarily for its ability to amplify a weak signal and increase detectability of a target molecule.-Applications:...
, lanthanum is used as an electron-dense tracer in molecular biologyMolecular biology is the branch of biology that deals with the molecular basis of biological activity. This field overlaps with other areas of biology and chemistry, particularly genetics and biochemistry...
.
Biological role
Lanthanum has no known biological role. The element is very poorly absorbed after oral administration and when injected its elimination is very slow.
Lanthanum carbonateLanthanum carbonate, La23, is the salt formed by lanthanum cations and carbonate anions. It is an ore of lanthanum metal, along with monazite.- Chemistry :...
was approved as a medication named Fosrenol to absorb excess
phosphateA phosphate, an inorganic chemical, is a salt of phosphoric acid. In organic chemistry, a phosphate, or organophosphate, is an ester of phosphoric acid. Organic phosphates are important in biochemistry and biogeochemistry or ecology. Inorganic phosphates are mined to obtain phosphorus for use in...
in cases of end-stage renal failure.
While lanthanum has pharmacological effects on several receptors and ion channels, its specificity for the
GABAγ-Aminobutyric acid is the chief inhibitory neurotransmitter in the mammalian central nervous system. It plays a role in regulating neuronal excitability throughout the nervous system...
receptor is unique among divalent cations. Lanthanum acts at the same modulatory site on the
GABA receptorThe GABA receptors are a class of receptors that respond to the neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid , the chief inhibitory neurotransmitter in the vertebrate central nervous system...
as zinc- a known negative allosteric modulator. The Lanthanum cation La
3+ is a positive allosteric modulator at native and recombinant GABA receptors, increasing open channel time and decreasing desensitization in a subunit configuration dependent manner.
Precautions
Lanthanum has a low to moderate level of toxicity and should be handled with care. In animals, the injection of lanthanum solutions produces hyperglycaemia, low blood pressure, degeneration of the
spleenThe spleen is an organ found in virtually all vertebrate animals with important roles in regard to red blood cells and the immune system. In humans, it is located in the left upper quadrant of the abdomen. It removes old red blood cells and holds a reserve of blood in case of hemorrhagic shock...
and
hepaticThe liver is a vital organ present in vertebrates and some other animals. It has a wide range of functions, including detoxification, protein synthesis, and production of biochemicals necessary for digestion...
alterations. The application in carbon arc light led to the exposure of people to rare earth element oxides and fluorides, sometimes led to
pneumoconiosisPneumoconiosis is an occupational lung disease and a restrictive lung disease caused by the inhalation of dust, often in mines.-Types:Depending upon the type of dust, the disease is given different names:...
.
See also
Books
- The Industrial Chemistry of the Lanthanons, Yttrium, Thorium and Uranium, by R.J. Callow, Pergamon Press 1967
- Extractive Metallurgy of Rare Earths, by C.K. Gupta and N. Krishnamurthy, CRC Press 2005
- Nouveau Traite de Chimie Minerale, Vol. VII. Scandium, Yttrium, Elements des Terres Rares, Actinium, P. Pascal, Editor, Masson & Cie 1959
- Chemistry of the Lanthanons, by R.C. Vickery, Butterworths 1953
External links