8 Oxygen, sulfur, selenium and tellurium

Abstract

This chapter reviews original highlights in the chemistry of the Group 16 elements reported during 2003. The bulk of the review focuses on the chemistry/interaction of the chalcogens with other p-block elements. Due to the vast abundance and diversity of research into chalcogen chemistry, the report has been limited to materials with discrete molecular structure, either as novel products or reagents, or obtained by new synthetic strategies. The most important advances in 2003 include the isolation of hitherto unknown functionalities or bonding modes, unusual, unique or unexpected structures and a fascinating ferromagnet.