yttrium

Also known as Y, element 39, 39Y

thumb|upright=0.7|Piece of Yttrium Yttrium is a chemical element; it has symbol Y and atomic number 39. It is a silvery-metallic transition metal chemically similar to the lanthanides and has often been classified as a rare-earth element. Yttrium is almost always found in combination with lanthanide elements in rare-earth minerals and is never found in nature as a free element. 89Y is the only stable isotope and the only isotope found in the Earth's crust.

OverviewAI-generated

Yttrium is a chemical element with the symbol Y and atomic number 39. Its standard atomic weight is 88.90584. The element has an electron configuration of [Kr] 4d¹ 5s² and typically exhibits an oxidation state of 3. It possesses an electronegativity of 1 and an ionic radius of 1.08. The canonical SMILES representation for yttrium is [Y].

The substance was discovered in 1787. It has a density of 4.47, a melting point of 2732, and a boiling point of 5301. Its vapor pressure is recorded as 0. Yttrium is associated with the Commons category "Yttrium" and the Unicode character "釔". It is referenced by 878 other encyclopedia articles and has a PubChem CID of 23993.

Synthesized by Vinony from 32 facts across 4 sources: Wikidata, PubChem, PubMed, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Chemical data

Formula: Y
Molecular weight: 88.90584 g/mol
IUPAC name: yttrium
SMILES: [Y]
InChIKey: VWQVUPCCIRVNHF-UHFFFAOYSA-N
Polar surface area: 0 Å²
H-bond donors: 0
H-bond acceptors: 0
Formal charge: 0

via PubChem

Research

16,456 papers

Yttrium 90 Therapy: Is the Future Surgical?Cardiovascular and interventional radiology · 2020Garlipp BDOI: 10.1007/s00270-020-02645-9
The use of yttrium in medical imaging and therapy: historical background and future perspectives.ReviewChemical Society reviews · 2020Tickner BJ , Stasiuk GJ , Duckett SB et al.DOI: 10.1039/c9cs00840c
Biokinetics of yttrium and comparison with its geochemical twin holmium.ReviewJournal of radiological protection : official journal of the Society for Radiological Protection · 2017Leggett RDOI: 10.1088/1361-6498/aa6e66
Yttrium aluminum garnet-based filler resin composites used as clear aligner attachments.Dental materials journal · 2023Yang H, Li X, Xie X et al.DOI: 10.4012/dmj.2022-157
RADIOACTIVE YTTRIUM 90: A REVIEW OF ITS PROPERTIES, BIOLOGICAL BEHAVIOR, AND CLINICAL USES.ReviewActa radiologica: therapy, physics, biology · 1964WALKER LADOI: 10.1080/02841866409134063
Yttrium nitrate activates the oxidative stress-mediated NF-κB pathway to induce testicular inflammatory response and reduce sperm quality in mice.Ecotoxicology and environmental safety · 2025Zhang SF, Li N, Liu DL et al.DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2025.118720
Transarterial Radioembolization with Yttrium-90 for the Treatment of Hepatocellular Carcinoma.ReviewAdvances in therapy · 2016Kallini JR, Gabr A, Salem R et al.DOI: 10.1007/s12325-016-0324-7
Yttrium recovery from primary and secondary sources: a review of main hydrometallurgical processes.ReviewWaste management (New York, N.Y.) · 2014Innocenzi V, De Michelis I, Kopacek B et al.DOI: 10.1016/j.wasman.2014.02.010

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Wikidata facts

Instance of: lithophile
Subclass of: transition metal
Part of: group 3
Named after: Ytterby mine
Material used: adamsite-(Y)
Mass: 88.905838
Image: Yttrium sublimed dendritic and 1cm3 cube.jpg

Show 25 more facts

topic's main category: Category:Yttrium
atomic number: 39
element symbol: Y
Commons category: Yttrium
discoverer or inventor: Friedrich Wöhler
NIOSH Pocket Guide ID: 0673
density: 4.47
time of discovery or invention: 1787-00-00
immediately dangerous to life or health: 500
Commons gallery: Yttrium
melting point: 2732
boiling point: 5301
vapor pressure: 0
described by source: Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edition
time-weighted average exposure limit: 1
canonical SMILES: [Y]
chemical formula: Y
location of discovery: Finland
electronegativity: 1
Unicode character: 釔
different from: ITR
ionic radius: 1.08
electron configuration: [Kr] 4d¹ 5s²
oxidation state: 3
on focus list of Wikimedia project: Wikipedia:Vital articles/Level/4

Sources (9)

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Encyclopedic overview

25 sections

Contents

Etymology
Characteristics
Properties
Similarity to the lanthanides
Compounds and reactions
Isotopes and nucleosynthesis
History
Occurrence
Abundance
Production
Applications
Consumer
Garnets
Material enhancer
Medical
Superconductors
Lithium batteries
Other applications
Precautions
See also
Notes
References
Bibliography
Further reading
External links

thumb|upright=0.7|Piece of Yttrium

Yttrium is a chemical element; it has symbol Y and atomic number 39. It is a silvery-metallic transition metal chemically similar to the lanthanides and has often been classified as a rare-earth element. Yttrium is almost always found in combination with lanthanide elements in rare-earth minerals and is never found in nature as a free element. 89Y is the only stable isotope and the only isotope found in the Earth's crust.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “yttrium” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.