How does ruthenium 'tune' gold?

We show the element ruthenium and the interesting property that it is immune to hydrochloric acid and nitric acid. Even when ... Even when combined to make the gold-dissolving acid "Aqua Regia" the element ruthenium is completely immune to it. So how do you .... What's wrong with your normal tone? . read more

Ruthenium can be oxidized to ruthenium(IV) oxide (RuO 2, oxidation state +4) which can in turn be oxidized by sodium metaperiodate to the volatile yellow tetrahedral ruthenium tetroxide, RuO 4, an aggressive, strong oxidizing agent with structure and properties analogous to osmium tetroxide. read more

Ruthenium compounds also have some nice optical and electronic properties. Like its lighter close relative, iron, ruthenium readily forms a number of oxides including some exotic oxygen bridged multi metallic compounds. One such material, ruthenium red, is a dye used to stain negatively charged biomolecules such as nucleic acids in microscopy. read more