The paper reports the synthesis of single-atom-thick gold (referred to as "goldene") through the exfoliation of Ti3AuC2, a nanolaminated MAX phase, using a wet-chemical etching method. The etching process involves using Murakami’s reagent with CTAB and cysteine as stabilizers to remove Ti3C2 slabs from Ti3AuC2. The resulting goldene layers exhibit a lattice contraction of about 9% compared to bulk gold, as observed by electron microscopy. Ab initio molecular dynamics simulations confirm the intrinsic stability of goldene, while experiments show some curling and agglomeration, which can be mitigated by surfactants. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy reveals an increase in the Au 4f binding energy by 0.88 eV. The study also explores the potential for preparing goldene from other non-van der Waals Au-intercalated phases and developing etching schemes. The findings highlight the potential of goldene for applications in electronics, catalysis, photonics, sensing, and biomedicine due to its unique properties as an atomically thin 2D material.The paper reports the synthesis of single-atom-thick gold (referred to as "goldene") through the exfoliation of Ti3AuC2, a nanolaminated MAX phase, using a wet-chemical etching method. The etching process involves using Murakami’s reagent with CTAB and cysteine as stabilizers to remove Ti3C2 slabs from Ti3AuC2. The resulting goldene layers exhibit a lattice contraction of about 9% compared to bulk gold, as observed by electron microscopy. Ab initio molecular dynamics simulations confirm the intrinsic stability of goldene, while experiments show some curling and agglomeration, which can be mitigated by surfactants. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy reveals an increase in the Au 4f binding energy by 0.88 eV. The study also explores the potential for preparing goldene from other non-van der Waals Au-intercalated phases and developing etching schemes. The findings highlight the potential of goldene for applications in electronics, catalysis, photonics, sensing, and biomedicine due to its unique properties as an atomically thin 2D material.