Pentafluoro(aryl)-λ -tellanes and Tetrafluoro(aryl)(trifluoromethyl)-λ -tellanes: From SF to the TeF and TeF CF Groups.

The TeF group is significantly underexplored as a highly fluorinated substituent on an organic framework, despite it being a larger congener of the acclaimed SF group. In fact, only one aryl-TeF compound (phenyl-TeF ) has been reported to date, synthesized using XeF . Our recently developed mild TCICA/KF approach to oxidative fluorination provides an affordable and scalable alternative to XeF . Using this method, we report a scope of extensively characterized aryl-TeF compounds, along with the first SC-XRD data on this compound class. The methodology was also extended to the synthesis and structural study of heretofore unknown aryl-TeF CF compounds. Additionally, preliminary reactivity studies unveiled some inconsistencies with previous literature regarding phenyl-TeF . Although our studies conclude that the arene-based TeF (and TeF CF ) group is not quite as robust as the SF group, we find that the TeF group is more stable than previously thought, thus opening a door to explore new applications of this motif.