Telluroxides reductions

Once the thiol is introduced to the coordination sphere of the selenoxide or telluroxide, a second slower reaction occurs. This step is associated with reduction of the chalcogen(IV) oxidation state to the chalcogen(II) oxidation state, which was demonstrated with dihydroxy telluranes 52 and 53. In the tellurium(IV) oxidation state of 52 and 53, the 5p orbital of tellurium is involved in the three-center, four-electron bond and cannot interact with the carbon 7r-framework. Long-wavelength absorption maxima for 52 and 53 are found at 510 and 500 nm, respectively in water. Reductive elimination generates a tellurium(II) atom, whose 5p orbital can now... 

Several other oxidation reactions of selenoxides and telluroxides are summarized in Fig. 23. Ley, Barton, and co-workers discovered that di-4-methoxyphenyltellur-oxide (54) could be used catalytically as an oxidant in the presence of 1,2-dibromotetrachloroethane. After reduction of the telluroxide to the telluride, the di-4-methoxyphenyltelluride (24) debrominated the 1,2-dibromotetrachloroethane to give the tellurium(IV) dibromide, which was hydrolyzed in situ to give the telluroxide 54. This process was used to oxidize phosphines to phosphine oxides and... 

Catalytic one-pot procedure. Since in the described teUuronium ylide olefmation tellurox-ide is formed as a by-product, and the telluroxide is susceptible to reduction by triphenyl phosphite, a catalytic procedure can be employed, providing a practical one-pot synthesis of a, -unsaturated esters and ketones (method E). By this procedure, a catalytic amount of n-dibutyl telluride reacts with the a-bromoester or a-bromoketone, and the formed tel-luronium salt is converted in situ under phase transfer conditions (solid KjCOj/trace HjO) into the ylide, which reacts in turn with the aldehyde, giving the olefin. Since the reaction is performed in the presence of triphenyl phosphite, the formed dibutyl telluroxide is reduced back to the dibutyl telluride, which is then recycled. 

Telluroxides derived from telluropyrylium dyes can be reduced by glutathione to the parent dye (Equation 16). The reaction occurs via a two-step mechanism <1994JOC8245>. This reduction has important implications for photodynamic therapy and related oxidative chemotherapy (see Section 7.11.8). 

The introduction of tellurium into an organic substrate promotes functional groups transformations or presents structural features that can be used for synthetic purposes, if suitable methods to remove tellurium from the resulting structures are available. To date, four main strategies have been explored for this end, namely, the telluroxide elimination, the tellurium/metal exchange, the coupling of tellurides with organometallic species and with alkynes, and the reductive removal via free radicals. 

Ley and Barton s observation that di-4-methoxyphenyltelluride could be used catalytically was the first entry into the use of in situ generated selenoxides or telluroxides as catalysts. As shown in Fig. 8, a variety of different nucleophiles can be introduced via the selenoxide or telluroxide followed by reductive elimination to generate oxidized product and reduced selenide or telluride. If the nucleophile is relatively inert to oxidation by hydrogen peroxide, then the reduced selenide or telluride can be reoxidized by hydrogen peroxide and the overall oxidation of the nucleophile becomes catalytic in the selenide or telluride. In the case of thiols, disulfides are the final product and the selenides or tellurides exhibit thiolperox-idase-like activity 60-62 64 82 83 If halide salts (chloride, bromide, iodide) are the nucleophiles, then positive halogen sources are the oxidized products and the selenides and tellurides exhibit haloperoxidase-like activity.84-88 The phenoxypro-pyltelluride 59 has been used as a catalyst for the iodination and bromination of a variety of organic substrates as shown in Fig. 24.87... 

Several of the procedures discussed in the sulfoxide section describe the successful extension of the method to the reduction of selenoxides, - - and there is little doubt that many of the other procedures cited earlier could be used likewise. Sakaki and Oae used triphenylphosphine selenide and similar se-lenides to reduce selenoxides to selenides in 79-93% yield (equation 19). Using a chiral phosphine selenide, these workers showed that the phosphine oxide formed had suffered predominant inversion, with a stereospecificity of over 80%. Detty has reported the application of the silane PhSeSiMes (12) to the reduction of selenoxides and telluroxides. The reactions are rapid and proceed essentially quantitatively, even in the presence of a hydroxy or carbonyl group. 

Aliphatic thiols may be prepared from the corresponding halides via a procedure which involves preparation of a-trimethylsiloxy-sulphides followed by extremely mild, two-step, reductive desilylation (Scheme 52). 6 Polymer-supported diaryl selenoxides (35a) and telluroxides... 

Reduction of Organoselenium and -tellurium Halides and Oxides. TUD reduces aryltellurium trihalides to diaryl ditel-lurides (eq 2) and diorganyltellurium dihalides and telluroxides to diorganyl tellurides (eq 3) in high yield. The corresponding selenium compounds are reduced similarly. Some examples are given in Table 2. The reduction is performed by premixing the substrate and 2 N NaOH at room temperature for 15 min prior to the addition of TUD in petroleum ether. 

Bis(trimethylsilyl) selenide is useful as a two-electron reducing agent for the reduction of sulfoxides, selenoxides, and telluroxides to corresponding sulfides, selenides, and tellurides, respectively (eq 8). ... 

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