Gold futures

Gold biochemistry has seen much development in recent years. The interaction of gold complexes with proteins and mitochondria, the possible role(s) of gold(III) in vivo, and the potential for developing future therapies using gold nanopartides are... 

Bates et al. reported the construction and characterization of a gold nanoparticle wire assembled using Mg -dependent RNA-RNA interactions for the future assembly of practical nanocircuits [31]. They used magnesium ion-mediated RNA-RNA loop-receptor interactions, in conjunction with 15 nm or 30 nm gold nanoclusters derivatized with DNA to prepare self-assembled nanowires. A wire was deposited between lithographically fabricated nanoelectrodes and exhibited non-linear activated conduction by electron hopping at 150-300 K (Figure 16). 

Metal/metal oxides are the materials of choice for construction of all-solid-state pH microelectrodes. A further understanding of pH sensing mechanisms for metal/metal oxide electrodes will have a significant impact on sensor development. This will help in understanding which factors control Nemstian responses and how to reduce interference of the potentiometric detection of pH by redox reactions at the metal-metal oxide interface. While glass pH electrodes will remain as a gold standard for many applications, all-solid-state pH sensors, especially those that are metal/metal oxide-based microelectrodes, will continue to make potentiometric in-vivo pH determination an attractive analytical method in the future. 

The first Frenchman to go to Berlin was welcome in Dearborn, too. He wrote a second letter to Edsel Ford twelve days after the first letter, enclosing an audit of profits accruing from his expanded business— 1,600,000 francs. The cash position of the firm was weak in dollars, because of world restrictions imposed by the United States Treasury. "But, as you know, our gold standard has been replaced by another standard which, in my opinion, is a draft on the future, not only in France and Europe, but, maybe, in the world."... 

In a recent review, Haruta has reassessed the mechanism of CO oxidation on the basis of the Bond and Thompson and Kung models, i.e. that the CO is activated by adsorption on Au° on the surface of the gold nanoparticles and that dioxygen is activated by the atoms at the periphery between the support and the gold nanocrystals (Fig. 4.7). The atoms at the periphery are proposed by Haruta to be cationic in nature, possibly Au(OH)s or Au(OH) formed by the presence of water vapor that is essential for the observed high activity catalysts. It is clear that the debate will continue for the immediate future. There are two reasons why finding an answer to the key question of the nature of the active site in gold catalysts for CO oxidation. The first is purely scientific... 

---