1879

Scandium

• Lars Fredrik Nilson,
• a student of Berzelius,
• did a spectral analysis
• of gadolinite and euxenite
• and found a new element
• that he was able to separate
• from the ytterbia of Marignac.

Atomic number 21

• Some metal-halide
• lightbulbs use iodine,
• sodium, and scandium.
• Some dentists
• use erbium, chromium:
• yttrium-scandium-gallium
• garnet lasers (a mouthful).
• Some aluminum alloys
• have a fraction of a percent
• of scandium, which
• by itself is a soft metal,
• but which hardens
• and strengthens the aluminum.

Lewis acids

• Scandium halides are Lewis acids
• and scandium triflate is a Lewis acid catalyst.
• Here begins a lesson in organic chemistry
• in which you learn that the chemical reaction
• between a Lewis acid and a Lewis base
• results in the combination of the two,
• the Lewis adduct, sharing a pair of electrons
• donated to the adduct by the Lewis base.
• The power of organoscandium chemistry
• is in coordination numbers between six and twelve,
• which we learn means that scandium compounds
• can form ionic bonds with many other atoms at a time,
• nothing to do with astrological favorability.
• These lively little guys swing with polymers.