High-pressure hydride sees gold show its reactive side

Scientists at the European x-ray free-electron laser facility in Germany have created a solid gold hydride by compressing gold with hydrocarbons at pressures above 40GPa and heating it with ultrafast x-ray pulses above 2000K. The extreme conditions allow hydrogen atoms to occupy gaps in a hexagonal close-packed gold lattice, forming a compound that exists only at high temperatures and reverts to ordinary gold upon cooling.