Subject: Has anyone ever sought to patent a chemical element (e.g. heavy element)

I'm thinking of situations that might be analogous to the patenting of 
genome sequences.  The argument has been that these sequences can be 
patented on the grounds that they have been "purified" from their natural 
form.  I was thinking that a similar argument might be made for the 
patenting of these heavy elements that are discovered/created by 
bombarding more stable elements, and which arguably do not exist in nature 
at all.  If no patent has ever been sought, I wonder what the rationale 
might be.  Thank you.

Re: Has anyone ever sought to patent a chemical element (e.g. heavy element)