sulfur ligands is due to their potential applications, as well as to the
structural variety that is accessible with such type of ligands [1].
Particularly, tellurium(IV) compounds bearing 1,1-dithiolate ligands
are attractive because of their ability to yield different coordination
patterns, the capability of achieving large coordination numbers
through inter- and intramolecular interactions and the presence of a
lone pair that can be stereochemically active [2]. In this regard,
tellurium complexes with dithiophosphate [S2P(OR)2] [3e6] and
dithiophosphinate ligands [S2P(R)2] (R ¼ alkyl or aryl) [3e,7e9]
have been structurally characterized. However, tellurium complexes
bearing dithiophosphonate ligands [S2P(OR)(R)] remain
unknown to date, according to a recent review [10] and our personal
search. This is due in great measure to the higher synthetic challenge
of dithiophosphonate ligands compared to other 1,1-