Group-05-Vanadium
#chemic/Group
Group 5 is a group of elements in the periodic table. Group 5 contains vanadium (V), niobium (Nb), tantalum (Ta) and dubnium (Db). This group lies in the d-block of the periodic table. This group is sometimes called the vanadium group or vanadium family after its lightest member; however, the group itself has not acquired a trivial name because it belongs to the broader grouping of the transition metals.
“Group 5” is the new IUPAC name for this group; the old style name was “group VB” in the old US system (CAS) or “group VA” in the European system (old IUPAC). Group 5 must not be confused with the group with the old-style group crossed names of either VA (US system, CAS) or VB (European system, old IUPAC). That group is now called the pnictogens or group 15.
As is typical for early transition metals, niobium and tantalum have only the group oxidation state of +5 as a major one, and are quite electropositive and have a less rich coordination chemistry. Due to the effects of the lanthanide contraction, they are very similar in properties. Vanadium is somewhat distinct due to its smaller size: it has well-defined +2, +3 and +4 states as well (although +5 is more stable).
The lighter three Group 5 elements occur naturally and share similar properties; all three are hard refractory metals under standard conditions. The fourth element, dubnium, has been synthesized in laboratories, but it has not been found occurring in nature, with half-life of the most stable isotope, dubnium-268, being only 16 hours, and other isotopes even more radioactive. To date, no experiments in a supercollider have been conducted to synthesize the next member of the group, either unpentseptium (Ups) or unpentennium (Upe). As unpentseptium and unpentennium are both late period 8 elements, it is unlikely that these elements will be synthesized in the near future.