Rhenium is the fourth densest element exceeded only by that of platinum, iridium, and osmium . It has the second highest melting point exceeded only by tungsten and carbon . Rhenium is available as metal and compounds with purities from 99% to 99.999% (ACS grade to ultra-high purity); metals in the form of foil, sputtering target, and rod, and compounds as submicron and nanopowder. Because of this, thermocouples made of Tungsten/Rhenium alloy is are used when temperatures will rise to 2000 C and rhenium wire is used in photoflash lamps for photography. It is widely used as filaments for mass spectrographs and ion gauges. Rhenium is also used as an electrical contact material because it has good wear resistance and withstands arc corrosion. Rhenium-molybdenum alloys are superconductive at 10 Kelvin. Rhenium catalysts are are used for oranic chemical hydrogenation. Rhenium is added to platinum catalysts that are used to produce lead-free gasoline. Due to its high melting point, it is in high-temperature superalloys used for aerospace and filaments for mass spectrographs.

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Rhenium facts, including appearance, CAS #, and molecular formula and safety data, research and properties are available for many specific states, forms and shapes on the product pages listed to the left. Elemental or metallic forms include pellets, rod, wire and granules for evaporation source material purposes. Nanoparticles and nanopowders provide ultra high surface area which nanotechnology research and recent experiments demonstrate function to create new and unique properties and benefits.

Oxides are available in forms including powders and dense pellets for such uses as optical coating and thin film applications. Oxides tend to be insoluble. Fluorides are another insoluble form for uses in which oxygen is undesirable such as metallurgy, chemical and physical vapor deposition and in some optical coatings. Rhenium is available in soluble forms including chlorides, nitrates and acetates. These compounds are also manufactured as solutions at specified stoichiometries.

Rhenium is a Block D, Group 7, Period 6 element. The number of electrons in each of Rhodium's shells is 2, 8, 18, 32, 13, 2 and its electronic configuration is [Xe] 4f¹⁴ 5d⁵ 6s². In its elemental form rhenium's CAS number is 7440-15-5. The rhenium atom has a radius of 137.1.pm and it's Van der Waals radius is 200.pm. The toxicity of Rhenium has not yet been established .

All elemental metals, compounds and solutions may be synthesized in ultra high purity (e.g. 99.999%) for laboratory standards, advanced electronic, thin fillm deposition using sputtering targets and evaporation materials, metallurgy and optical materials and other high technology applications. Information is provided for stable (non-radioactive) isotopes. Organo-Metallic Rhenium compounds are soluble in organic or non-aqueous solvents. See Analytical Services for information on available certified chemical and physical analysis techniques including MS-ICP, X-Ray Diffraction, PSD and Surface Area (BET) analysis.

Rhenium was first discovered by Walter Noddack in 1925 in the Rhine region of Germany. The name Rhenium originates from the Latin word 'Rhenus' meaning "Rhine" after the place of discovery.

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Rhenium

Ionization Energy. The ionization energy for rhenium (the least required energy to release a single electron from the atom in it's ground state in the gas phase) is stated in the following table:

Thermal Properties. The melting point and boiling point for rhenium are stated below. The following chart sets forth the heat of fusion, heat of vaporization and heat of atomization.

Recent Research & Development for Rhenium

• pH-driven dynamic stereoinduction: epimerization upon dimerization in rhenium(i) complexes. Alvarez CM, Carrillo R, García-Rodríguez R, Miguel D. Chem Commun (Camb). 2011 Oct 10. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 21983699 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
  
  
• N-Heterocyclic carbenes as p*-acceptors in luminescent Re(i) triscarbonyl complexes. Casson LA, Muzzioli S, Raiteri P, Skelton BW, Stagni S, Massi M, Brown DH. Dalton Trans. 2011 Oct 10. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 21983680 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
  
  
• In Vitro and In Vivo Evaluation of Melanin-Binding Decapeptide 4B4 Radiolabeled with (177)Lu, (166)Ho, and (153)Sm Radiolanthanides for the Purpose of Targeted Radionuclide Therapy of Melanoma. Ballard B, Jiang Z, Soll CE, Revskaya E, Cutler CS, Dadachova E, Francesconi LC. Cancer Biother Radiopharm. 2011 Oct;26(5):547-56. Epub 2011 Oct 4. PMID: 21970319 [PubMed - in process]
  
  
• Efficacy of radiosynovectomy in rheumatoid arthritis. Liepe K. Rheumatol Int. 2011 Oct 1. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 21964982 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
  
  
• Biological dosimetry after radiosynoviorthesis with rhenium-186 sulphide and erbium-169 citrate. Klett R, Schnurbus-Duhs A, Mödder G, Schmid E, Voth M. Nuklearmedizin. 2011 Sep 20;50(6). [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 21931934 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
  
  
• Observation of inductive effects that cause a change in the rate-determining step for the conversion of rhenium azides to imido complexes. Travia NE, Xu Z, Keith JM, Ison EA, Fanwick PE, Hall MB, Abu-Omar MM. Inorg Chem. 2011 Oct 17;50(20):10505-14. Epub 2011 Sep 9. PMID: 21905647 [PubMed - in process]
  
  
• Influence of the metal center and linker on the intracellular distribution and biological activity of organometal-peptide conjugates. Hu W, Splith K, Neundorf I, Merz K, Schatzschneider U. J Biol Inorg Chem. 2011 Sep 7. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 21898043 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
  
  
• Complexes in context: Attempting to control the cellular uptake and localisation of rhenium fac-tricarbonyl polypyridyl complexes. Balasingham RG, Coogan MP, Thorp-Greenwood FL. Dalton Trans. 2011 Sep 6. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 21897946 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
  
  
• Luminescent rhenium(i) polypyridine fluorous complexes as novel trifunctional biological probes. Louie MW, Fong TT, Lo KK. Inorg Chem. 2011 Oct 3;50(19):9465-71. Epub 2011 Aug 30. PMID: 21894912 [PubMed - in process]
  
  
• Rhenium-catalyzed allylation of C-H bonds of benzoic and acrylic acids. Kuninobu Y, Ohta K, Takai K. Chem Commun (Camb). 2011 Sep 20;47(38):10791-3. Epub 2011 Sep 5. PMID: 21892483 [PubMed - in process]
  
  
• [Influence of antitumor system rhenium-platinum on biochemical state of the liver]. Ivchuk VV, Polishko TM, Golichenko OA, Shtemenko OV, Shtemenko NI. Ukr Biokhim Zh. 2011 May-Jun;83(3):76-84. Ukrainian. PMID: 21888057 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
  
  
• Synthesis and Preliminary Bioevaluation of (99m)Tc(CO)(3)-17a-Triazolylandrost-4-Ene-3-One Derivative Prepared via Click Chemistry Route. Dhyani MV, Satpati D, Korde A, Banerjee S. Cancer Biother Radiopharm. 2011 Oct;26(5):539-45. Epub 2011 Sep 1. PMID: 21883014 [PubMed - in process]
  
  
• 17 e(-) rhenium dicarbonyl CO-releasing molecules on a cobalamin scaffold for biological application. Zobi F, Blacque O, Jacobs RA, Schaub MC, Bogdanova AY. Dalton Trans. 2011 Sep 1. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 21881676 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
  
  
• Luminescent rhenium(i) complexes with acetylamino- and trifluoroacetylamino-containing phenanthroline ligands: Anion-sensing study. Ng CO, Lai SW, Feng H, Yiu SM, Ko CC. Dalton Trans. 2011 Sep 27;40(39):10020-8. Epub 2011 Aug 30. PMID: 21879085 [PubMed - in process]
  
  
• Reactions of the inner surface of carbon nanotubes and nanoprotrusion processes imaged at the atomic scale. Chamberlain TW, Meyer JC, Biskupek J, Leschner J, Santana A, Besley NA, Bichoutskaia E, Kaiser U, Khlobystov AN. Nat Chem. 2011 Aug 14;3(9):732-7. doi: 10.1038/nchem.1115. PMID: 21860464 [PubMed - in process]
  
  
• Rhenium ethoxy- and hydroxycarbene complexes with thiophene substituents. Lotz S, Landman M, Olivier AJ, Bezuidenhout DI, Liles DC, Palmer ER. Dalton Trans. 2011 Oct 7;40(37):9394-403. Epub 2011 Aug 15. PMID: 21842102 [PubMed - in process]
  
  
• Chemoradionuclide therapy with (186)re-labeled liposomal Doxorubicin: toxicity, dosimetry, and therapeutic response. Soundararajan A, Bao A, Phillips WT, McManus LM, Goins BA. Cancer Biother Radiopharm. 2011 Oct;26(5):603-14. Epub 2011 Aug 11. PMID: 21834653 [PubMed - in process]
  
  
• Two different hydrogen bond donor ligands together: a selectivity improvement in organometallic {Re(CO)3} anion hosts. Ion L, Nieto S, Pérez J, Riera L, Riera V, Díaz J, López R, Anderson KM, Steed JW. Inorg Chem. 2011 Sep 5;50(17):8524-31. Epub 2011 Aug 11. PMID: 21834508 [PubMed - in process]
  
  
• A young source for the Hawaiian plume. Sobolev AV, Hofmann AW, Jochum KP, Kuzmin DV, Stoll B. Nature. 2011 Aug 10;476(7361):434-7. doi: 10.1038/nature10321. PMID: 21832996 [PubMed]
  
  
• Precursor-directed assembly of complex oxide nanobeads: the role of strongly coordinated inorganic anions. Nikonova OA, Nedelec JM, Kessler VG, Seisenbaeva GA. Langmuir. 2011 Sep 20;27(18):11622-8. Epub 2011 Aug 17. PMID: 21830800 [PubMed - in process]