is expected to be +1.9 V, more than the +1.52 V for the Au3+/Au couple. The cation is expected to be the softest among the metal cations. Due to relativistic stabilisation of the 7s subshell, roentgenium is expected to have a full s-subshell and a partially filled d-subshell, instead of the free s-electron and full d-subshell of copper, silver, and gold. Group 12 On the group 12 metals (zinc, cadmium and mercury), Smith observed that, "Textbook writers have always found difficulty in dealing with these elements." There is an abrupt and significant reduction in physical metallic character from group 11 to group 12. Their chemistry is that of main group elements. A 2003 survey of chemistry books showed that they were treated as either transition metals or main group elements on about a 50/50 basis. The IUPAC Red Book notes that although the group 3−12 elements are commonly referred to as the transition elements, the group 12 elements are not always included. The group 12 elements do not satisfy the IUPAC Gold Book definition of a transition metal. Zinc is a soft metal (MH 2.5) with poor mechanical properties. It has a crystalline structure (BCN 6+6) that is slightly distorted from the ideal. Many zinc compounds are markedly covalent in character. The oxide and hydroxide of zinc in its preferred oxidation state of +2, namely ZnO and Zn(OH)2, are amphoteric; it forms anionic zincates in strongly basic solutions. Zinc forms Zintl phases such as LiZn, NaZn13 and BaZn13. Highly purified zinc, at room temperature, is ductile. It reacts with moist air to form a thin layer of carbonate that prevents further corrosion. Cadmium is a soft, ductile metal (MH 2.0) that undergoes substantial deformation, under load, at room temperature. Like zinc, it has a crystalline structure (BCN 6+6) that is slightly distorted from the ideal. The halides of cadmium, with the exception of the fluoride, exhibit a substantially covalent nature. The oxides of cadmium in its preferred oxidation state of +2, namely CdO and Cd(OH)2, are weakly amphoteric; it forms cadmates in strongly basic solutions. Cadmium forms Zintl phases such as LiCd, RbCd13 and CsCd13. When heated in air to a few hundred degrees, cadmium represents a toxicity hazard due to the release of cadmium vapour; when heated to its boiling point in air (just above 1000 K; 725 C; 1340 F; cf steel ~2700 K; 2425 C; 4400 F),