Highlights on the recent advances in gold chemistry—a photophysical perspective

The presence of inter- and/or intra-molecular aurophilic interactions among the closed-shell gold(I) centres in various systems has been studied from various aspects, including synthetic, spectroscopic and theoretical approaches. The employment of different ligands can impose a significant influence on these factors and give rise to new complexes with interesting structural and photophysical properties. In this tutorial review, a number of recent examples are selected to illustrate the fascinating properties and chemistry, as well as versatility of gold(I) in these aspects and their potential applications to newcomers in this field. An emerging class of luminescent gold(III) complexes is also described.