It has been discovered that dilute nitric acid in reversed micelle systems can oxidize the Br ion to Br 2 and we have proposed that the nitryl (or nitronium) ion NO 2 + should be the active species in the oxidation process. Nitration of phenol in reversed micelle systems with dilute nitric acid, CHCl 3 /CTAC/H 2 O (2.0 mol dm-3 HNO 3 in the 1.0% (v/v) H 2 O phase), has been performed at 35 ºC to obtain 2-and 4-nitrophenols, where CTAC represents cetyltrimethylammonium chloride. In aqueous 2.0 mol dm-3 HNO 3 solution accompanied by 4.0 mol dm-3 LiCl (and a small amount of LiBr as the bromide resource), trans-1,4-dibromo-2-butene was successfully brominated to 1,2,3,4-tetrabromobutane. This result is good evidence that the Br ion can be oxidized to Br 2 in dilute nitric acid (2.0 mol dm-3) providing it contains concentrated salts. For chloride salts, the cation effects increased as Et 4 N + << Na + < Li + < Ca 2+ < Mg 2+. Even the evolution of Cl 2 has been demonstrated from < 2.0 mol dm-3 HNO 3 solution containing concentrated LiCl, MgCl 2 , and CaCl 2 as well as AlCl 3. The dissolution of precious metals (Au, Pt, and Pd), especially, of gold has been demonstrated in 0.1-2 mol dm-3 HNO 3 accompanied by alkali metal, alkaline earth metal, and aluminum chlorides. The complete dissolution time of pure gold plate (20±2 mg, 0.1 mm thickness) in 2.0 mol dm-3 HNO 3 accompanied by 1.0 mol dm-3 AlCl 3 has been shortened remarkably with temperature increase from 15 to 80 ºC. The dissolution rate constants, log (k /s-1), of a piece of gold wire (19.7±0.5 mg) in 20 mL of 2.0 mol dm-3 HNO 3 accompanied by the metal chlorides, in general, increase with increasing salt concentrations at 40 and 60 ºC. The gold can be dissolved in the solution of <1.0 mol dm-3 HNO 3 and <1.0 mol dm-3 HCl, i.e. a "dilute aqua regia." We have achieved a total dissolution of five pieces of the gold wire (totally 0.10 g) in 100 mL of the 1:1 mixture between seawater and 2.0 mol dm-3 HNO 3 at ca. 100 ºC.