Synthesis and structural characterization of two exotic examples of aryltellurolate cluster compounds: [Ag4Hg(µ-Te Py-κTe)3(µ3-Te Py-κTe)2(µ3-Te Py-κN,Te)(PPh3)2] and [{Cu(phen)}3(µ3-TePh)3(CuCl)]⋅0.5C2H6O

A ternary silver-mercury-pyridyltellurolate – [Ag4Hg(μ-TeoPy-κTe)3(μ3-TeoPy-κTe)2(μ-TeoPy-κN,Te)(PPh3)2] (1) – was obtained by the reaction of Ag(PPh3)NO3 and Hg(OAc)2 with a solution of LiTeoPy (oPy = 2-pyridyl, Ph = phenyl). In a similar fashion, the cluster [Cu4(μ3-TePh)3Cl(phen)3]⋅0.5C2H6O (2) was obtained when CuCl and 1,10-phenanthroline (phen) reacted with a solution of NaTePh. The alkali-metal aryltellurolate solutions were generated in situ from the reduction of the appropriate diarylditellane with LiBH4 (for 1) or NaBH4 (for 2). Single crystal X-ray diffraction studies were performed, and molecular structures were discussed in detail. Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations were carried out to better understand the nature of the central moiety connectivity among the metals and the tellurium atoms.