506-65-0

Basic information

• Product Name: GOLD(I) CYANIDE
• Synonyms: goldcyanide(au(cn));GOLD(+1)CYANIDE;GOLD CYANIDE;GOLD(I) CYANIDE;GOLD MONOCYANIDE;Gold (I) cyanide (99.9%-Au);GoldIcyanideyellowpowder;GOLD(I) CYANIDE 88% AU
• CAS NO: 506-65-0
• Molecular Formula: CAuN
• Molecular Weight: 222.98
• EINECS: 208-049-1
• Product Categories: Inorganics;Micro/Nanoelectronics;Gold;Solution Deposition Precursors;metal cyanide
• Mol File: 506-65-0.mol
• Article Data: 3

Chemical Properties

• Melting Point: ~50°C
• Boiling Point: 25.7°Cat760mmHg
• Flash Point: °C
• Appearance: Yellow/Powder
• Density: 7,12 g/cm3
• Water Solubility: Slightly soluble in water.
• Sensitive: Moisture Sensitive
• Merck: 14,4516
• CAS DataBase Reference: GOLD(I) CYANIDE(CAS DataBase Reference)
• NIST Chemistry Reference: GOLD(I) CYANIDE(506-65-0)
• EPA Substance Registry System: GOLD(I) CYANIDE(506-65-0)

Safety Data

• Hazard Codes: T+,N
• Statements: 26/27/28-32-50/53
• Safety Statements: 7-28-29-60-61-45
• RIDADR: 1588
• WGK Germany: 3
• TSCA: Yes
• HazardClass: 6.1
• PackingGroup: II
• Hazardous Substances Data: 506-65-0(Hazardous Substances Data)

Usage

Chemical Properties

yellow powder(s); hexagonal; odorless; iridescent in sunlight; slowly decomposes in presence of moisture [MER06]

Physical properties

Yellow hexagonal crystals; odorless; density 7.14 g/cm3; decomposes slowly in the presence of moisture or decomposes on heating; insoluble in water, alcohol and ether; also insoluble in dilute acids; soluble in aqueous solutions of potassium-, or sodium cyanide, ammonia, and aqua regia.

Uses

Electrolyte in the electroplating industry

Preparation

Gold(I) cyanide may be prepared by boiling sodium aurus cyanide, Na[Au(CN)2] with hydrochloric acid:Na[Au(CN)2] + HCl AuCN + HCN + NaClThe complex cyanide, Na[Au(CN)2] is made by dissolving gold in a dilute solution of sodium cyanide in the presence of air; or by dissolution of a gold anode in a solution of sodium cyanide during electrolysis. The solution is evaporated to separate the complex, Na[Au(CN)2], which is purified by recrystallization from water. Potassium cyanide may be used instead of sodium cyanide to prepare gold(I) cyanide.

Hazard

Toxic material.

Purification Methods

The lemon yellow powder is sparingly soluble in H2O and EtOH but soluble in aqueous NH3. It is obtained by heating H[Au(CN)2] at 110o. Wash it well with H2O and EtOH and dry it at 110o. It has an IR band at max 2239 cm -1 typical for C stretching vibration. [Glemser & Sauer Handbook of Preparative Inorg anic Chemistry (Ed. Brauer) Academic Press Vol II p 1064 1965.] CARE: may evolve HCN.

InChI:InChI=1/CN.Au/c1-2;/rCAuN/c2-1-3

Synthetic route

tris(triphenylphosphinegold)oxonium fluoroborate + sodium hydride (7646-69-7) + ethenetetracarbonitrile (670-54-2) → 2P(C6H5)3*Au(1+)*BF4(1-)=(P(C6H5)3)2AuBF4 + gold(I) cyanide (506-65-0)

Conditions	Yield
In tetrahydrofuran stirring suspn. of all substances in abs. THF for 4 h; ppt. sepn., washing (THF, water and ether) and drying gave AuCN; soln. dild. with petroleum ether and cooled to 0°C; ppt. sepn. and washing with petroleum ether gave Au-complex;	A 100% B 67%

tris(triphenylphosphinegold)oxonium fluoroborate + ethenetetracarbonitrile (670-54-2) → tricyanomethanidebis(triphenylphosphine)gold + gold(I) cyanide (506-65-0)

Conditions	Yield
In tetrahydrofuran addn. of Au-complex to soln. of org. compd., stirring (4 h); ppt. sepn., washing (acetone) and drying gave AuCN; evapn. of combined solns. (dryness) and repptn. from acetone by pentane gave Au-complex;	A 80% B 20%

potassium cyanide + chloro(dimethylsulfide) gold(I) (29892-37-3) → gold(I) cyanide (506-65-0)

Conditions	Yield
With sulfuric acid In sulfuric acid; water byproducts: HCN, K2SO4; conc. H2SO4 was added in excess to intermediate complex; elem. anal.;	70%

2,4-dihydro-1,3-diphenyl(triphenylphosphinegold)cyclopenta{b}indene + ethenetetracarbonitrile (670-54-2) → 2,4-dihydro-1,3-diphenyl(triphenylphosphinegold)cyclopenta{b}indene-tetracyanoethyleneviolet + gold(I) cyanide (506-65-0)

Conditions	Yield
In benzene stirring (4 h), ppt. sepn., washing with benzene; extn. by acetone gave AuCN (powder); acetone soln. evapn. to dryness, solid residue dissoln. in benzene, filktration and diln. with petroleum ether to turbidity; ppt. sepn., washing with pentane and drying gave C6H4CH2C5HPh2AuPPh3*TCE; elem. anal.;	A n/a B 69%

2,4-dihydro-1,3-diphenyl(triphenylphosphinegold)cyclopenta{b}indene + ethenetetracarbonitrile (670-54-2) → tricyanomethanidebis(triphenylphosphine)gold + gold(I) cyanide (506-65-0)

Conditions	Yield
In benzene stirring (4 h); ppt. sepn., washing with benzene, extn. by acetone gave AuCN (powder); acetone soln. evapn. gave (PPh3)2AuC(CN)3; elem. anal.;	A 1.7% B 69%

tetracyanoethylene*C12H8(C6H5)2 (123528-41-6) + tris(triphenylphosphinegold)oxonium fluoroborate → tricyanomethanidebis(triphenylphosphine)gold + 1,3-diphenyl-2,8-dihydrocyclopenta[a]indene (33836-49-6) + gold(I) cyanide (506-65-0)

Conditions	Yield
In tetrahydrofuran addn. of Au-complex to soln. of org. compd., stirring (4 h); ppt. sepn., washing (THF) and drying gave AuCN; all solns. evapn. to dryness, residue extn. (benzene), ext. evapn. (dryness) gave C6H4CH2C5H2Ph2, residue extn. (benzene) and repptn. from acetone by hexane gave Au-complex;	A 59% B n/a C 33%

gold(I) cyanide (506-65-0) + tris(1-methylethyl)phosphine (6476-36-4) → ((CH3)2CH)3PAuCN

Conditions	Yield
In methanol; water under an inert atmosphere; to a suspn. of AuCN in methanol/water was added a soln. of the phosphine in methanol, stirred for 2 h; decanted, evapd. to dryness, washed with H2O, extd. with methanol; elem. anal.;	79%

[RuCp(Tpmd)] + gold(I) cyanide (506-65-0) → [RuCp(μ-Tpmd){AuCN}]

Conditions	Yield
In tetrahydrofuran at 20℃; for 0.5h; Inert atmosphere; Schlenk technique; Sealed tube;	76%

gold(I) cyanide (506-65-0) + N,N-dimethylthiourea (534-13-4) → dicyano-1κ(2)C-bis-(dimethylthiourea)-2κ(2)S-digold(I)(Au-Au) (288088-85-7)

Conditions	Yield
In water AuCN added to thione soln., heated to 343 K for 30 min; crystn. on cooling, elem. anal.;	73%

tetraphenylphosphonium tetraselenotungstate + gold(I) cyanide (506-65-0) + Dimethyl(phenyl)phosphine (672-66-2) → P(C6H5)4(1+)*(CH3)2(C6H5)PAu(Se)2WSe2(1-)=[P(C6H5)4][((CH3)2(C6H5)P)Au(Se)2WSe2]

Conditions	Yield
In acetonitrile N2, Schlenk techniques; W-compd. addn. to Au compd. suspn., org. compd.addn., soln. stirring for 60 min, filtration (sintered glass frit), Et2O layering on filtrate top over 10 d, crystn.; crystals filtration off; elem. anal.;	63%

2P(C6H5)4(1+)*(NC)Cu(Se)2Mo(Se)2(2-) = [P(C6H5)4]2[(NC)Cu(Se)2Mo(Se)2] + gold(I) cyanide (506-65-0) + Dimethyl(phenyl)phosphine (672-66-2) → P(C6H5)4(1+)*((CH3)2(C6H5)P)2Cu(Se)2MoSe2(1-)=[P(C6H5)4][((CH3)2(C6H5)P)2Cu(Se)2MoSe2]

Conditions	Yield
In acetonitrile N2, Schlenk techniques; org. compd. addn. to mixed soln. of Au- and Cu-compds., stirring for 30 min, filtration (sintered glass frit), Et2O layering on filtrate top over 2 d, crystn.; crystals filtration off; elem. anal.;	60%

tetraphenylphosphonium tetraselenomolybdate + gold(I) cyanide (506-65-0) + Dimethyl(phenyl)phosphine (672-66-2) → P(C6H5)4(1+)*(CH3)2(C6H5)PAu(Se)2MoSe2(1-)=[P(C6H5)4][((CH3)2(C6H5)P)Au(Se)2MoSe2]

Conditions	Yield
In acetonitrile N2, Schlenk techniques; org. compd. addn. to mixed soln. of Mo- and Au compds., stirring for 30 min, soln. filtration (sintered glass frit), Et2O layering on filtrate top over 2 d, crystn.; crystals filtration off; elem. anal.;	60%

tetraphenylphosphonium tetraselenomolybdate + gold(I) cyanide (506-65-0) → 2P(C6H5)4(1+)*(NC)Au(Se)2Mo(Se)2(2-)=[P(C6H5)4]2[(NC)Au(Se)2Mo(Se)2]

Conditions	Yield
In acetonitrile N2, Schlenk techniques; components mixed soln. stirring for 60 min, filtration (sintered glass frit), Et2O layering on filtrate top over 3 d, crystn.; crystals filtration off; elem. anal.;	60%

tetraphenylphosphonium tetraselenotungstate + gold(I) cyanide (506-65-0) → 2P(C6H5)4(1+)*(NC)Au(Se)2W(Se)2(2-)=[P(C6H5)4]2[(NC)Au(Se)2W(Se)2]

Conditions	Yield
In acetonitrile N2, Schlenk techniques; components mixed soln. stirring for 3 h, filtration (sintered glass frit), Et2O layering on filtrate top over 3 d, crystn.; crystals filtration off; elem. anal.;	57%

tetraphenylphosphonium tetraselenotungstate + gold(I) cyanide (506-65-0) + acetonitrile (75-05-8) → 2P(C6H5)4(1+)*(NC)Au(Se)2W(Se)2Au(CN)(2-)*CH3CN=[P(C6H5)4]2[(NC)Au(Se)2W(Se)2Au(CN)]*CH3CN

Conditions	Yield
In acetonitrile N2, Schlenk techniques; stirring mixed soln. of components for 60 min, soln. filtration (sintered glass frit), Et2O layering on filtrate top over 10 d, crystn.; crystals filtration off; elem. anal.;	40%

tetraphenylphosphonium tetraselenomolybdate + gold(I) cyanide (506-65-0) + acetonitrile (75-05-8) → 2P(C6H5)4(1+)*(NC)Au(Se)2Mo(Se)2Au(CN)(2-)*CH3CN=[P(C6H5)4]2[(NC)Au(Se)2Mo(Se)2Au(CN)]*CH3CN

Conditions	Yield
In acetonitrile N2, Schlenk techniques; stirring mixed soln. of components for 30 min, soln. filtration sintered glass frit), Et2O layering on filtrate top over 5 d, crystn.; crystals filtration off; elem. anal.;	40%

[RuCp*(Tpmd)] + gold(I) cyanide (506-65-0) → [RuCp*(Tpmd){AuCN}]

Conditions	Yield
In tetrahydrofuran at 20℃; for 0.5h; Inert atmosphere; Schlenk technique; Sealed tube;	36%

Na2TeSe3 + gold(I) cyanide (506-65-0) + tetraphenylphosphonium bromide (2751-90-8) → 2P(C6H5)4(1+)*Au2(TeSe2)2(2-)=[P(C6H5)4]2[Au2(TeSe2)2]

Conditions	Yield
With PEt3 In N,N-dimethyl-formamide Na2TeSe3 in DMF slowly added to DMF soln. of AuCN and PEt3 at room temp., stirred for 2 h, treated with solid PPh4Br, stirred for 2 h; filtered, crystd.(ether), elem. anal.;	33%

tellurium + lithium telluride + gold(I) cyanide (506-65-0) → 3(C2H5)4N(1+)*AuTe7(3-)={(C2H5)4N}3{AuTe7}

Conditions

Yield

With P(C2H5)3; (C2H5)4NCl In N,N-dimethyl-formamide; acetonitrile generation of a poytelluride soln. by react. of Li2Te and Te-powder in DMF, addn. of a mixt. of AuCN and PEt3 in DMF, stirring at room temp. for 1 h and filtn., addn. of NEt4Cl in CH3CN to the filtrate; crystn. upon layering of the resultant soln. with ether, manual sepn. of platelike from needle-shaped crystals; elem. anal. of platelike crystals;;

27%

gold(I) cyanide (506-65-0) → carbon nitride (2074-87-5) + gold

Conditions	Yield
beim Gluehen;

gold(I) cyanide (506-65-0) + potassium ferro cyanide → potassium auro cyanide

gold(I) cyanide (506-65-0) → gold (7440-57-5, 457905-15-6)

Conditions	Yield
With water In solid byproducts: HCN, O2; heating at 385-480°C in air;
With sodium hypophosphite In water formation of Au-coatings on metals;;
With water In solid byproducts: HCN, O2; heating at 350-700°C in air;
With NaH2PO2 In water formation of Au-coatings on metals;;

gold(I) cyanide (506-65-0) → cyano(triphenylphosphine)gold(I)

Conditions	Yield
With P(C6H5)3 In chloroform treating with chloroform soln. of PPh3;

gold(I) cyanide (506-65-0) → gold cyanide monoammoniate

Conditions	Yield
With ammonia In ammonia recrystn.; elem. anal.;

Upstream product

• 123528-41-6 tetracyanoethylene*C₁₂H₈(C₆H₅)2 
• 7646-69-7 sodium hydride 
• 670-54-2 ethenetetracarbonitrile 
• 108-88-3 toluene 
• 29892-37-3 chloro(dimethylsulfide) gold(I) 
• 7646-85-7 zinc(II) chloride 
• 7440-57-5 gold 
• 75-05-8 acetonitrile 

Downstream Products

• 7440-57-5 gold 

Relevant articles and documents

Detection of free monomeric silver(I) and gold(I) cyanides, AgCN and AuCN: Microwave spectra and molecular structure

The chemistry of the group 11 metal cyanide system has been of considerable interest because of the commercial importance of some of the complexes formed in this system. These metal cyanides contain one-dimensional linear -M-CN-M-CN-M- chains in the solid

Thermal decomposition of trialkyl/arylphospfflne gold(I) cyanide complexes

Combined TG/DTA techniques have been used to study the thermal decomposition of R3PAuCN (where R is ethyl, cyclohexyl, o-tolyl, m-tolyl, p-tolyl, allyl, cyanoethyl, 1-naphthyl and phenyl) complexes. It was observed that all of these complexes underwant decomposition cum redox reactions in the range of 200-600°C with evolution of both trans ligands, which are phosphine and cyanide, leaving metallic gold as a residue. The thermal decomposition of o-Tol3PAuCN has revealed that this is a stepwise process. In the first step decomposition takes place with evolution of phosphine and generation of AuCN, which in second step undergoes a redox reaction to produce metallic gold. The DTA curves have also confirmed these results.