Chalcogenide inertness

The electrochemical preparation of metal chalcogenide compounds has been demonstrated by numerous research groups and reviewed in a number of publications [ 1-3]. For the most part, the methods that have been used comprise (a) cathodic co-reduction of the metal ion and a chalcogen oxoanion in aqueous solution onto an inert substrate (b) cathodic deposition from a solvent containing metal ions and the chalcogen in elemental form (the chalcogens are not soluble in water under normal conditions, so these reactions are carried out in non-aqueous solvents) (c) anodic oxidation of the parent metal in a chalconide-containing aqueous electrolyte. 

A number of synthetic approaches have been proposed in order to prepare nanosized grains of tin(II) and tin(IV) chalcogenides. Thermal decomposition of (PhCH2)2SnX 3, (X = Se and Te) in an inert atmosphere has been used to prepare SnSe, SnTe, and Sn(Sei j Sj ).2 0 ... 

The use of organometallic reagents is well represented by the butyllithium technique. A solution of n-butyllithium in hexane is a mild and efficient reagent to form the lithium derivatives of transition-metal chalcogenides". The host structure is simply brought into contact with a diluted solution of n-BuLi in hexane (0.2-1.5 mol L ) under an inert atmosphere for several days at RT, Octane is formed as a byproduct of the reaction ... 

---