Diselenolene proligands: reactivity and comparison with their dithiolene congeners

The reactivity of various diselenolene proligands shows some discrepancies compared to that of the dithiolene analogues, leading essentially to the formation of selenophene and diselenine derivatives rather than the planar selenated π-electron acceptor. Furthermore, chalcogen⋯chalcogen bonding interactions have been evidenced by X-ray diffraction study of the electroactive diselenine, the diselenine bridge acting as chalcogen bond donors towards the thione (CS) chalcogen bond acceptors.