gold [Au]

Introduction

From the Anglo-Saxon geolo meaning yellow. The symbol Au comes from the Latin aurum meaning shining dawn. Known to ancient civilizations.

Occurrence

• found free in nature & associated with quartz, pyrite & other minerals
• 2/3 of the world's supply of gold comes from South Africa
• 2/3 of the US supply is from South Dakota & Nevada
• found in seawater, but no cost-effective process has been designed to extract it from its source

Characteristics

• yellow but may appear black, ruby or purple when finely divided
• gold is the most malleable & ductile element
• affected by air & most reagents
• good conductor of heat & electricity
• good reflector of infrared radiation
• generally non-toxic

Uses

• pharmacology
  • gold salts used to treat rheumatoid arthritis
    • auranofin
    • aurothioglucose
    • gold sodium thiomalate
  • gold-198 is used in radiation therapy
• coins, jewelry & dentures
• often needs to be alloyed to give it strength
• spacecraft as a shield from the sun's heat

Laboratory

• gold in erythrocytes
• gold in hair
• gold in body fluid
  • gold in CSF
  • gold in blood
  • gold in serum/plasma
  • gold in urine

More general terms

• chemical element
• metal

Additional terms

• auranofin [gold] (Ridaura)
• aurothioglucose [gold] (Solganal)
• Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD)
• gold sodium thiomalate; aurothiomalate (Myochrysine, Chrysothios)
• gold toxicity

Database

• PubChem: http://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/summary/summary.cgi?cid=23985