Coordination chemistry of heavy polychalcogenide ligands

The coordination complexes of polychalcogenide ligands with metal ions are reviewed. In the past two decades, the chemistry of metal polysulfides has been extensively studied, while a great deal of attention is currently being paid to metal polyselenides and polytellurides. Compounds of metal heavy polychaleogenides are primarily of interest regarding their structure and reactivity, but they also provide potential for being used as soluble precursors to some technologically relevant metal chalcogenides. This article focuses on coordination compounds of metal polyselenides and polytellurides, both homoleptic species and organometallic complexes with heavy polychalcogenide co-ligands, from the synthetic and structural point of view. After giving a comprehensive survey of the compounds known to date according to the periodic table, some applications and an outlook in this research area are discussed.