Moscovium (Element 115): Synthesis, Nuclear and Chemical Evidence, and Prospective Applications

Abstract

Moscovium (Mc, element 115) is a synthetic superheavy element first made at JINR Dubna in 2003 and recognized by IUPAC in 2015. This preprint reviews how it is made, what is known about its five established isotopes (Mc-286 to Mc-290, all with half-lives below about one second) and its first chemical measurement (adsorption of Mc-288 on silicon oxide, 2024), and which uses would be realistic if longer-lived isotopes or larger quantities became available. Every fusion reaction available with stable beams and targets forms a moscovium compound nucleus with at most 176 neutrons, eight short of the predicted N = 184 shell closure. Heavier beams being developed for elements 119 and 120 make lighter, more neutron-deficient moscovium, not heavier. Reaching neutron-rich moscovium would need multinucleon transfer, intense neutron-rich radioactive beams or rapid neutron capture. Moscovium's established uses are scientific: benchmarking nuclear models, producing daughter nuclei and testing relativistic chemistry. Conditional uses are grouped by what would have to become true first. Illustrative calculations show why a heavier element is not automatically a better radioisotope heat source than plutonium-238, and why accelerator-made moscovium could at best be an energy carrier. No evidence was found for its use as a fuel or for any gravitational effect. The review was drafted with the assistance of Claude (Anthropic); the author is responsible for its content.