Studies on the Selective Syntheses of Sodium Ditelluride and Dialkyl Ditellurides

Studies on the selective synthetic method for dialkyl ditellurides 1, a representative class of organyl tellurium compounds, were presented. Considering the difficulty in conducting previous harsh reactions and in suppressing the formation of dialkyl tellurides 2 as side products, we optimized reaction conditions for selective syntheses of sodium ditelluride and the corresponding dialkyl ditellurides 1. We reduced tellurium to sodium ditelluride by using NaBH₄ and subsequently, treated the obtained sodium ditelluride with alkyl halides (RX) to give the target compounds 1. Consequently, by applying various alkyl halides (RX) we achieved the selective syntheses of dialkyl ditellurides 1 (13 examples with 4 new compounds) in modest to good yields. We also suggested the mechanistic pathways to dialkyl ditellurides 1.