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The aurophilicity phenomenon: A decade of experimental findings, theoretical concepts and emerging applications

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Abstract

The term ‘aurophilicity’ was introduced in 1989 to describe phenomena in the structural chemistry of gold which could not be readily rationalized by conventional concepts of chemical bonding. In the following decade the aurophilicity concept has been widely applied and supported by the results of many experimental as well as theoretical studies. It will be carried over into the new millennium as a continued incentive for investigations that will help in the understanding of the unique properties of gold.

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  1. Anorganisch-chemisches Institut, Technische Universität München, D-85747, Garching, Germany

    Hubert Schmidbaur

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Dedicated to the memory of William S Rapson

Prof Dr Hubert Schmidbaur has the Chair of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry and is Head of the Inorganic Chemistry Institute at the Technical University of Munich. He has ca 750 publications, with research papers and review articles on a wide range of inorganic topics including gold chemistry. He has received a significant number of international awards and honours, including endowed lectureships, and recently edited a book entitled ‘Gold: Progress in Chemistry, Biochemistry and Technology’, the starting point for which was an international conference in Hanau which he chaired (seeGold Bulletin, 1996,29, 105; 1998,31, 134).

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Schmidbaur, H. The aurophilicity phenomenon: A decade of experimental findings, theoretical concepts and emerging applications. Gold Bull 33, 3–10 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03215477

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