Tellurium: A New Sensitive Test.

A new, extremely sensitive method for the quantitative determination of tellurium is based on the induced precipitation of elemental gold from a 6N HCl solution containing gold chloride, cupric chloride, and hypophosphorous acid; the amount of gold reduced is proportional to the amount of tellurium present. As little as 1 nanogram (1 X 1O(-9) g) of tellurium gives a measurable reaction with 1 mg of gold in 50 ml of solution.