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

The potential of alkali and alkaline earth metal chalcogenolates in synthetic chemistry and various technical applications has sparked the recent interest in the chemistry of alkali and alkaline earth metal thiolates, selenolates and tellurolates. As a result, an increasing body of work concerned with exploring synthetic routes to the target compounds, analyzing the influence of metal, ligand and donor on the structural chemistry, and correlating structure and function has appeared in the literature, most of which during 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 influence, comparing structural similarities and disparities in alkali and alkaline earth chemistry, and discussing structure-function relationships.