Reactions of synthesis of heavy nuclei: Brief summary and outlook

The possible reactions of synthesis of extremely heavy nuclei with almost closed proton and neutron shells are analyzed on the basis of current experimental and theoretical data on the properties of the isotopes of superheavy elements. It has been shown that advances in obtaining extremely heavy nuclei for which microscopic models predict an increase in stability require further investigations of the mechanism of synthesis reactions. Direct and model experiments aimed at solving this problem are discussed.