Thiolates, selenolates, and tellurolates of the s-block elements

The potential of alkali and alkaline earth metal chalcogenolates in synthet ic chemistry and various technical applications has sparked the recent inte rest in the chemistry of alkali and alkaline earth metal thiolates, selenol ates and tellurolates. As a result, an increasing body of work concerned wi th exploring synthetic routes to the target compounds, analyzing the influe nce of metal, ligand and donor on the structural chemistry, and correlating structure and function has appeared in the literature, most of which durin g the last few years. This article describes recent trends in this area of alkali and alkaline earth chemistry, by discussing synthetic access routes, analyzing structure determining factors such as metal, donor and ligand in fluence, comparing structural similarities and disparities in alkali and al kaline earth chemistry, and discussing structure- function relationships. ( C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.