In chemistry, aurophilicity refers to the tendency of gold complexes to aggregate via formation of weak metallophilic interactions.
[1][2] The main evidence for aurophilicity is from the crystallographic analysis of Au(I) complexes.
[1][3] Observations and theory show that, on average, 28% of the binding energy in the aurophilic interaction can be attributed to relativistic expansion of the gold d orbitals.
[5] The similarity in strength between hydrogen bonding and aurophilic interaction has proven to be a convenient tool in the field of polymer chemistry.
[6] An important and exploitable property of aurophilic interactions relevant to their supramolecular chemistry is that while both inter- and intramolecular interactions are possible, intermolecular aurophilic linkages are comparatively weak and easily broken by solvation; most complexes that exhibit intramolecular aurophilic interactions retain such moieties in solution.