Marie Curie doubt, the Curies sought to isolate polonium and radium in pure form. Pitchblende is a complex mineral; the chemical separation of its constituents was an arduous task. The discovery of polonium had been relatively easy; chemically it resembles the element bismuth, and polonium was the only bismuth-like substance in the ore. Radium, however, was more elusive; it is closely related chemically to barium, and pitchblende contains both elements. By 1898 the Curies had obtained traces of radium, but appreciable quantities, uncontaminated with barium, were still beyond reach. The Curies undertook the arduous task of separating out radium salt by differential
Polonium trioxide that polonium trioxide may be formed by heating polonium dioxide and chromium trioxide together in air. It is very difficult to oxidize polonium beyond Po(IV); for example, the only hexahalide of polonium is the hexafluoride, PoF, and fluorine is already the most electronegative element (though polonium hexaiodide was once reportedly formed in the vapour phase, it immediately decomposed). However, the difficulty in obtaining polonium trioxide and polonates (containing the anion, analogous to sulfate, selenate, and tellurate) by direct oxidation of Po(IV) compounds may be due to the fact that polonium-210, while the most easily available isotope of polonium, is strongly