Telluroesters: Synthesis and Reactivity in Nucleophilic Acyl Substitution

Telluroesters are a versatile class of organotellurium compounds that serve as efficient precursors of acyl radicals. However, in spite of their synthetic utility, general methods for their preparation remain scarcely available. Additionally, while the radical chemistry of telluroesters has been extensively developed, ionic transformations directly involving the Te─C(O) bond remain largely unexplored and are essentially limited to tellurium–lithium exchange reactions. We now report a simple and general protocol for the synthesis of structurally diverse telluroesters from readily available ditellurides and acyl chlorides. Furthermore, we demonstrate that telluroesters undergo efficient nucleophilic acyl substitution under mild conditions, providing a general and versatile platform for the transfer of acyl moieties onto a broad range of nucleophiles.