A spectroscopic study of the hydrolysis products of aryltellurium trihalides

The hydrolysis of aryltellurium trihalides to aryltellurium oxide halides in neutral aqueous media is considered to proceed in a stepwise manner in which the first stage involves the formation of a monomeric species. In alkaline media the initially isolated hydrolysis product analyses as (p-EtOC₆H₄)TeO(OH) and on treatment with dilute acid, affords the known (p-EtOC₆H₄TeO)₂O.The infrared spectra are assigned in the low frequency region for the compounds RTe(O)X (X = halogen), RTeO(OH) and (RTeO)₂O. It is argued that the probable coordination number for tellurium in RTe(O)X is four, and that a ring structure is likely. The preparation of the salts(C₅H₅NH⁺)(RTeCl₄^?) is reported and the anions are considered to have square-based pyramidal structures of approximately C_4v symmetry. The reaction of (C₅H₅NH⁺)(PhTeCl₄^?) with acetone affords Ph(CH₃COCH₂)TeCl₂.