Auric chloride

[Platdigger]

Correct me if I am wrong, but, isn't "auric chloride" a salt?
And, "chloroauric acid" is gold disolved in aqua regia?
So I believe this makes gold disolved in HCL and chlorine
"chloroauric acid" as well.
Randy

 

[lazersteve]

Randy,

That is technically correct. Lou also pointed this out not long ago.


However it is common 'slang' to refer to the yellow liquid formed after dissolving gold as 'auric chloride' as mentioned in the wiki article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/auric_chloride

Steve

 

[Lou]

Yes, I put up pictures showing the difference.

AuCl3 is what is obtained by direct heating of gold with chlorine. It is hygroscopic and forms hydrogen tetrachloroauric acid (acid gold chloride) with water, but there's an equilibrium involved. Adding HCl fully converts it to HAuCl4.


Lot of names. I suppose it's important to know that you'll never see AuCl3 out of an aqueous solution...and that AuCl3 has more gold in it.