Organotellurium chemistry

Commonly encountered organotellurium compounds are diorganomono- and ditellurides, R2Te and (RTe)2, respectively.

Reduced organotellurium compounds are commonly obtained from NaHTe and lithium telluride: A direct route to organolithium compounds starts from reactions of organolithium or Grignard reagents and Te: Butyl lithium gives the telluride similarly:[3] Organotelluride anions can be oxidized or alkylated: Diorganoditellurides are valued intermediates, especially the aryl derivatives such as diphenyl ditelluride: One departure from sulfur and selenium chemistry is the availability of the tetrachloride, TeCl4.

The dimers are cleaved by halides and other Lewis bases:[7] The anions RTeCl4− (and the related adducts RTeCl3L) adopt square pyramidal structures with the electronegative groups in the plane.

[6] Organotellurium(IV) compounds participate in Stille reactions:[8] Telluroxides are generally related to sulfoxides and selenoxides in terms of their structures.

[10] Dimethyl telluride is used to in metalorganic vapour phase epitaxy where it serves as a volatile source of Te.