A Facile Synthesis of Seleno- and Telluroformamides

Abstract

The reaction of N-monosubstituted and N,N-disubstituted formamides (9 examples) with bis(dimethylaluminum) selenide, prepared in situ via a transmetalation reaction of bis(tributyltin) selenide with trimethylaluminum, afforded the corresponding selenoformamides in 31-91% yield. Similarly, by the use of bis(dimethylaluminum) telluride, a telluroformamide (N-methyltelluroformanilide) was synthesized for the first time.