Synthesis of Symmetrical Diorganoyl Tellurides Using Te⁰ and Silver Catalysis

The synthesis of organic compounds containing tellurium atom is shortly explored in the literature compared to their analogues selenium and sulfur. However, it is of great interest to obtain these compounds, among them a class of great importance are the symmetrical tellurides, which can be used as synthetic intermediates in a series of organic reactions, regarding their potential to the formation of new carbon-carbon bonds. Recent advances related to the preparation of diaryl tellurides have been described using boronic acids with different catalysts, such as copper, indium, iron, among others. The Ag-catalyzed reaction can be considered an efficient and attractive alternative, since AgNO₃ is not expensive and is easily handled. In this context, we have developed a efficient methodology for obtaining a series of symmetrical tellurides.

This work reports the synthesis of symmetrical tellurides starting from different arylboronic acids and tellurium powder through a simple methodology using silver catalysis. The developed method tolerates a series of arylboronic acids containing electron withdrawing or electron donating groups, obtaining a wide reaction scope using only 10 mol% of AgNO₃ as a catalyst, DMSO as solvent and three equivalents of Te⁰ for five hours. Using this methodology we are able to obtain a plethora of symmetrical tellurides in moderate to good yields.