2026/01/01 by Leandro Piovan, Bruna B. Ferreira, Tay Zugman +2
Chemistry · Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics · #Aqueous solution #Hypervalent molecule #Nucleophile #Organic Chemistry Cycloaddition Reactions #Organoselenium and organotellurium chemistry #Reactivity (psychology) #Sulfur #Sulfur-Based Synthesis Techniques #Tellurium
paper · doi:10.21577/0103-5053.20260108
openalex publication_date 2026/01/01 · openalex created_date 2026/07/07 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Hypervalent tellurium compounds have attracted considerable attention due to their biological activity and reactivity mainly toward sulfur-containing biomolecules. Traditionally, telluranes have been considered the biologically active species; however, in water-rich environments, they are expected to undergo rapid conversion into the corresponding telluroxides. In this context, it was investigated the reactivity of a model organotelluranes (butyldichloro(2-(methoxymethyl)phenyl)-λ4-tellane; 4), the inorganic tellurane ammonium trichloro(dioxoethylene-O,O’) tellurate (AS-101), and their respective telluroxides generated in situ, employing 125Te nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy as a key analytical tool. The results described here demonstrate clear differences in reactivity between telluranes and telluroxides, as well as between inorganic and organic derivatives. Notably, organotelluroxides exhibit higher reactivity and are selectively consumed in reactions with sulfur nucleophiles, while inorganic telluroxides remain largely unreactive under similar conditions. These findings provide direct experimental evidence that telluroxides, rather than telluranes, are the predominant reactive species in aqueous media. Overall, this study offers new insights into the behavior of hypervalent tellurium compounds and highlights the central role of sulfur nucleophiles in their reactivity in water-rich environments.