Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2018
Let $R$ be an $n!$-torsion free semiprime ring with involution $*$ and with extended centroid $C$, where $n\,>\,1$ is a positive integer. We characterize $a\,\in \,K$, the Lie algebra of skew elements in $R$, satisfying ${{(\text{a}{{\text{d}}_{a}})}^{n}}\,=\,0$ on $K$. This generalizes both Martindale and Miers’ theorem and the theorem of Brox et al. In order to prove it we first prove that if $a,\,b\,\in \,R$ satisfy ${{(\text{a}{{\text{d}}_{a}})}^{n}}\,=\,\text{a}{{\text{d}}_{b}}$ on $R$, where either $n$ is even or $b\,=\,0$, then ${{(a\,-\,\lambda )}^{[(n+1)/2]}}\,=\,0$ for some $\lambda \,\in \,C$.