OXIDATION OF COPPER AND GOLD BY HALOHYDROCARBON-CONTAINING NONAQUEOUSSYSTEMS

It is demonstrated with ethyl iodide that the systems comprising a hal ohydrocarbon and a coordinating organic solvent (L) oxidize copper and gold only when L is dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). Molecular iodine, form ed by interaction of alkyl halides with DMSO, is found to be the major oxidizing agent for these metals. The oxidation of copper and gold by iodine in the presence of such coordinating solvents as DMSO and DMFA proceeds via the Langmuir-Hinshelwood scheme involving the components of an oxidizing mixture, which are reversibly and independently adsor bed on different sites of the metal surface.