Transition metals

Transition metal, any of various chemical elements that have valence electrons—i.e., electrons that can participate in the
formation of chemical bonds—in two shells instead of only one. While the term transition has no particular chemical
significance, it is a convenient name by which to distinguish the similarity of the atomic structures and resulting properties
of the elements so designated. They occupy the middle portions of the long periods of the periodic table of elements
between the groups on the left-hand side and the groups on the right. Specifically, they form Groups 3 (IIIB) through 12
(IIB).

General properties of the group

The most striking similarities shared by the 24 elements in question are that they are all  metals and that most of them are
hard, strong, and lustrous, have high melting and boiling points, and are good conductors of heat and electricity. The
range in these properties is considerable; therefore, the statements are comparative with the general properties of all the
other elements.

Many of the elements are technologically important: titanium, iron, nickel, and copper, for example, are used structurally
and in electrical technology. Second, the transition metals form many useful alloys, with one another and with other
metallic elements. Third, most of these elements dissolve in mineral acids, although a few, such as  platinum, silver,
and gold, are called “noble”—that is, are unaffected by simple (nonoxidizing) acids.

Without exception, the elements of the main transition series (i.e., excluding the lanthanoids and actinoids as specified
below) form stable compounds in two or more formal oxidation states.

The transition metals may be subdivided according to the electronic structures of their atoms into three main transition
series, called the first, second, and third transition series, and two inner transition series, called the lanthanoids and the
actinoids.

he first main transition series begins with either scandium (symbol Sc, atomic number 21) or titanium (symbol Ti, atomic
number 22) and ends with zinc (symbol Zn, atomic number 30). The second series includes the elements yttrium (symbol
Y, atomic number 39) to cadmium (symbol Cd, atomic number 48). The third series extends from lanthanum (symbol La,
atomic number 57) to mercury (symbol Hg, atomic number 80). These three main transition series are included in the set
of 30 elements often called the d-block transition metals. Because scandium, yttrium, and lanthanum actually do not form
compounds analogous to those of the other transition metals and because their chemistry is quite homologous to that of
the lanthanoids, they are excluded from the present discussion of the main transition metals. Similarly, because zinc,
cadmium, and mercury exhibit few of the property’s characteristic of the other transition metals, they are treated
separately (see zinc group element). The remaining d-block transition metals and some of their characteristic properties
are listed in the Table.
The first of the inner transition series includes the elements from cerium (symbol Ce, atomic number 58)
to lutetium (symbol Lu, atomic number 71). These elements are called the lanthanoids (or lanthanides) because the
chemistry of each closely resembles that of lanthanum. Lanthanum itself is often regarded as one of the lanthanoids. The
actinoid series consists of 15 elements from actinium (symbol Ac, atomic number 89) to lawrencium (symbol Lr, atomic
number 103). These inner transition series are covered under rare-earth element and actinoid element. For elements 104
and higher.

The relative locations of the transition metals in the periodic table and their chemical and physical properties can best be
understood by considering their electronic structures and the way in which those structures vary as atomic numbers
increase.

General Properties of Transition Elements

 These elements form colored compounds and ions. This color is explained by the d-d transition of electrons.
 There is a relatively low gap in energy between the possible oxidation states of these elements. The transition elements,
therefore, exhibit many oxidation states.
 Many paramagnetic compounds are formed by these elements, because of the unpaired electrons in the d orbital.
 A large variety of ligands can bind themselves to these elements. Due to this, a wide variety of stable complexes are
formed by transition elements.
 These elements have a large ratio of charge to the radius.
 Transition metals tend to be hard and they have relatively high densities when compared to other elements.
 The boiling points and the melting points of these elements are high, due to the participation of the delocalized d
electrons in metallic bonding.
 This metallic bonding of the delocalized d electrons also causes the transition elements to be good conductors of
electricity.

Discovery of the transition metals

The most abundant transition metal in Earth’s solid crust is iron, which is fourth among all elements and second (to
aluminum) among metals in crustal abundance. The elements titanium, manganese, zirconium, vanadium,
and chromium also have abundances in excess of 100 grams (3.5 ounces) per ton. Some of the most important and useful
transition metals have very low crustal abundances—e.g., tungsten, platinum, gold, and silver.

Four of the regular transition metals were known to the ancients: iron (ferrum), copper (cuprum), silver (argentum), and
gold (aurum). Their chemical symbols (Fe, Cu, Ag, Au), in fact, are derived from their alchemical (Latin) names rather
than their contemporary names. The other regular transition metals were discovered (or recognized as elements) after the
early 18th century. The transition metal most recently discovered in nature is rhenium (atomic number 75), which in 1925
was detected in platinum ores and in the niobium mineral columbite.
Technetium (atomic number 43) is the only d-block element that has not been isolated from Earth’s crust. All isotopes
of technetium are radioactive; the half-life of even the most stable isotope, technetium-97, is too short to permit the
survival of primordial technetium in Earth’s crust, and claims that it has been isolated or detected there must be
considered erroneous. Technetium can be isolated in considerable quantities, however, from the fission products of nuclear
reactors, and it is at least as readily available for chemical study as the naturally occurring similar element rhenium, of
which there are no concentrated ores.