The lutetium is a metal found in the rare earth group, being the more difficult to obtain or isolate compared with other members of the lanthanide, it has an atomic number of 71 and a molecular weight corresponds to 174.9 In the same way, it is the counterpart to the other lanthanide elements, it is the heaviest and has a higher hardness index, it has a silver color with small whitish tones, in turn it is stable in the presence of oxygen and can expose radioactivity.
The first scientists who identified Lutetium respond to the name of George Urbain and Carl Auer von Welcbach, from France and Australia respectively, an event that occurred in 1907, the origin of the name Lutetium is Greek " Lutetia " which means Paris, because the pure extraction occurred in that city.
The most practical and simple way within the dimensions of the word, to obtain lutetium is through the reduction of lutetium triochloride or triofluoride, this is achieved by working with anhydrides of an alkali metal or in its defect alkaline earth. Lutetium, ytyrium and lanthanum have prominence in the area of science as strongly magnetic metals, the main reason why they are highly sought after by scientists, this property is thanks to the fact that they form trivalent ions which generates the presence of unpaired electrons, which significantly increases the ferromagnetic powerof its salts, lutetium is considered to be the most expensive metal of the lanthanide group and this is caused by the difficulty in the procedure of obtaining it, despite this lutetium is free on the market, therefore it is not necessary its elaboration in the work laboratory.
This chemical element is widely used in refineries, since it is used as a catalyst (accelerator) for reactions such as oil cracking, it can also be used in other interactions, which can be mentioned are alkalization, polymerization and hydrogenation; In turn, analyzes have recently been carried out to evaluate the role of lutetium as a therapeutic treatment at the level of nuclear medicine.
