Iodine-Catalysed Dissolution of Elemental Gold in Ethanol

Gold is a scarce element in the Earth's crust but indispensable in modern electronic devices. New, sustainable methods of gold recycling are essential to meet the growing eco-social demand of gold. Here, we describe a simple, inexpensive, and environmentally benign dissolution of gold under mild conditions. Gold dissolves quantitatively in ethanol using 2-mercaptoben-zimidazole as a ligand in the presence of a catalytic amount of iodine. Mechanistically, the dissolution of gold begins when I-2 oxidizes Au-0 and forms a [(AuI2)-I-1](-) species, which undergoes subsequent ligand-exchange reactions and forms a stable bis-ligand Au-1 complex. H2O2 oxidizes free iodide and regenerated I-2 returns back to the catalytic cycle. Addition of a reductant to the reaction mixture precipitates gold quantitatively and partially regenerates the ligand. We anticipate our work will open a new pathway to more sustainable metal recycling with the utilization of just catalytic amounts of reagents and green solvents.

Automated summary

This article describes a simple, inexpensive, and environmentally friendly method for dissolving gold which uses 2-mercaptoben-zimidazole as a ligand and a catalytic amount of iodine in ethanol. This method has the potential to open a new pathway for more sustainable metal recycling.