Organoselenium Chemistry: Role of Intramolecular Interactions

Recent developments in the field of organoselenium chemistry with a focus on hypervalent nature of selenium is studied. Study of crystal structure of p-ethoxyphenyl-2-(2-pyridyl) phenyl selenide showed that the compound has a suitably positioned nitrogen atom to form a five-membered chelate ring. A study of X-ray crystal structure of areneselenenyl chloride stabilized by the stereoelectronic effect of an intramolecular nitrogen atom found that the electronic structure around the selenium atom is similar to second-order nucleophilic substitution transition state at a divalent selenium. Synthesis and characterization of selenenyl chloride and azide using diselenide as a precursor showed that organoselenium azides are extremely temperature-sensitive materials. Ferrocenyl selenides are also synthesized by lithiation of N,N-diisopropyl ferrocenecarboxamide followed by quenching with appropriate aryl/alkyl diselenide.