Curium(III) oxide is a compound composed of curium and oxygen with the chemical formula . It is a crystalline solid with a unit cell that contains two curium atoms and three oxygen atoms. The simplest synthesis equation involves the reaction of curium(III) metal with O2−: 2 Cm3+ + 3 O2− ---> Cm2O3. Curium trioxide can exist as five polymorphic forms. Two of the forms exist at extremely high temperatures, making it difficult for experimental studies to be done on the formation of their structures. The three other possible forms which curium sesquioxide can take are the body-centered cubic form, the monoclinic form, and the hexagonal form. Curium(III) oxide is either white or light tan in color and, while insoluble in water, is soluble in inorganic and mineral acids. Its synthesis was first recognized in 1955. Synthesis Curium sesquioxide can be prepared in a variety of ways. (Note: Keep in mind that the ways listed below do not contain all of the possible ways in which it can be produced.) Ignition with O2: Curium(III) oxalate is precipitated through a capillary tube. The precipitate is ignited by gaseous oxygen at 400 °C, and the resulting product is thermally decomposed via 600 °C and 10−4 mm of pressure. Aerosolized Curium Sesquioxide: The aerosolization process of Cm2O3 can be done through multiple experimental processes. Typically, Cm2O3 is aerosolized for experimental procedures which set out to discover the effects of curium metal within a biological system. Route 1: The traditional aerosolization reaction utilizes curium metal as the starting material. While curium metal has been discovered to naturally exist as a mixture of 87.4% 244Cm, 8.4% 243Cm, 3.9% other curium isotopes, and ~0.3% of the daughter nuclide, plutonium, in most aerosolized syntheses of curium(III) oxide, curium metal is purified through solvent extraction of curium nitrate and bis(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid in toluene to remove the plutonium. NH3OH is then added to the purified curium nitrate, and the resulting precipitate is collected and rinsed with deionized water. The precipitate (Cm2O3) is resuspended in solvent and aerosolized with some sort of high output aerosol generator (ex: Lovelace nebulizer). Route 2: In other aerosolizations, instead of the addition of NH3OH to the purified curium nitrate, ammonium hydroxide is utilized to adjust the pH value of the solution to 9. The increased basicity of the solution creates a curium hydroxide precipitate. This precipitate is then collected through filtration and resuspended in