Chemistry of Gold

No other metal has held mans interest for as long, and to such an extent, as Gold. The chemistry
of Gold is still being explored vigorously, leading to fascinating insights and new breakthroughs
in diverse areas such as material science, electronics, engineering, space exploration and
medicine. Gold has always been valued for its malleability, ductility and inertness in the
atmosphere which ensure that it can be worked easily and retains its luster for very long
durations. It is also resistant to corrosion, though Aqua Regia dissolves it.
While Gold is sometimes found free in nature, especially in Gold seams, it usually occurs in
conjunction with Silver, Quartz (SiO2), Calcite (CaCO3), Lead, Tellurium, Zinc or Copper.
Another abundant source of Gold is seawater it is estimated that there is roughly 1 mg of gold
dissolved in every ton of seawater, although extracting it currently costs more than the gold is
worth.
Gold is also one of the softer known metals, leading to wide usage of thin sheets of gold, known
as gold leaf, in arts and crafts for gilding. One sheet of gold leaf can be as thin as 0.000127
millimeters, or about 400 times thinner than a human hair. Owing to its softness, pure gold is
often alloyed with other metals, such as Silver, Copper, Platinum or Palladium, to increase its
strength. Gold alloys are used to make jewelry, decorative items, dental fillings and coins. The
amount of gold in an alloy is measured with a unit called a carat.
Gold is found in two main oxidation states. The Aurous ion (Au+) has a transitory existence and
readily converts into the Auric ion (Au3+). AuCl is decomposed by water into elemental Gold and
a hydrolyzed auric species; several complex anions containing Au+ are known, including
[Au(CN)2]2-. Au3+ occurs more commonly, while bivalent Gold has not been observed.

One of the exciting new areas of studies of Gold is the behavior, properties and applications of
Gold nanoparticles. Two of their main characteristics are photophysical and catalytic properties,
and the former characteristic is finding important applications in biology. Gold nanospheres
display a characteristic red color due to the collective oscillation of electrons in the conduction
band, known as surface plasmon oscillation. When in solution, they show are a deep red crimson
colour and are used in modern medical diagnostics like pregnancy testing and the Merck
Singlepath assay, which is used to detect salmonella.
Another area, which was also hitherto unexplored, is the preparation of organo-gold compounds
and exploration of their properties both in biology and medicine.

References:
Johnson, B. The Chemistry of Gold Recent Advances, Cambridge Press
http://education.jlab.org/itselemental/ele079.html
http://www.gold.org/technology/uses/nanotechnology/
Laguna, A. Modern Supramolecular Gold Chemistr. Wiley-VCH, p. 173