Tellurium compounds of the main-group elements: Progress and prospects

Tellurium compounds of the main-group elements are attracting increasing attention as potential single-source precursors for binary tellurides that have desirable properties for applications in the electronics and related industries. In addition, many tellurium compounds exhibit unique structures that are of fundamental interest and multiply-bonded derivatives often display unusual reactivity. Recent progress and future prospects in these three aspects of tellurium chemistry are discussed. The cover picture shows the structure of the spirocyclic tellurium(IV) compound Ph(Bu(t)N)P(mu-NBu(t))(2)Te(mu-NBu(t))(2)P(NBu(t))Ph, which is prepared by the reaction of the novel cluster [{Li2Te(NBu(t))(3)}(2)] with 2 equivalents of PhPCl(2).