Molecules: You'd better learn to live with them.
Chloroauric acid is obtained by the oxidation of gold in the presence of chloride, as in aqua regia.
Chloroauric acid is central to one of the sweetest stories in science, ever: hiding Nobel prizes from the Nazis. From the old blog:
My very favorite story about aqua regia is this: during World War II, a Hungarian chemist living in Denmark, George de Hevesy, dissolved two fellow scientists' Nobel Prizes in aqua regia literally as the Nazis stormed into Copenhagen so they wouldn't be stolen (he assumed, correctly, that the Nazis would just leave the chemicals alone). After the war, he recovered the gold, and the Nobel committee recoined the prizes. You can read more about it here.
I love stories of nerdy heroism like this. And honestly, would you have had the presence of mind? You will. Just remember, if the stormtroopers are coming, you can turn your gold tooth (or oppressed friend's Olympic medal/Nobel Prize) into an innocent looking solution. Just use aqua regia. Chloroaurate for the win!
Comments
Please note that hydrogen tetrachloroaurate is only stable as a hydrate (at least three H20) and usually comes as a bright orange crystalline hygroscopic SOLID, wich gives your fingers a nice long lasting purple tint (colloidal gold embedded in your skin), if you touch it. Eventually, with enough H2O it is liquid, of course. BUT if you dissolve gold in aqua regia you have to get rid of the nitrate first to have pure gold acid.
Posted by: olchemist | August 16, 2007 5:22 AM
Of course, everyone else just buried their Nobel prizes out behind the barn.
Posted by: Xalem | August 16, 2007 3:42 PM
Absolutely right, you are correct in assuming I was referring to Au in aq reg. Thanks for the comment.
Posted by: Molecule of the Day | August 16, 2007 6:51 PM
For that you need a barn first...
Posted by: David Marjanović | August 17, 2007 8:49 AM
What does it look like?
Posted by: Adam | August 18, 2007 2:24 AM