Low-lying isovector 2+ valence-shell excitations of $^{212}$Po

International audience; We present the results from an experiment dedicated to search for quadrupole-collective isovector valence-shellexcitations, states with so-called mixed proton-neutron symmetry (MSS), of 212Po. This nucleus was studiedin an α-transfer reaction. The lifetimes of two short-lived excited states, candidates for the one-phonon MSS,were determined by utilizing the Doppler shift attenuation method. The experimental results are in qualitativeagreement with a simple single-j shell model calculation, which, together with the observed lack of quadrupolecollectivity, indicates that the isovector nature of low-lying states is a property of the leading single-particlevalence shell configuration.