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Tellurium has two medium to low sensitivity spin ½ nuclei that yield narrow lines over a very wide chemical shift range. ¹²⁵Te has a higher sensitivity and may yield sharper signals than ¹²³Te (fig. 1) so ¹²⁵Te is the tellurium nucleus of choice. Tellurium NMR is used for the study of organotellurium compounds, such as telluroxanthenone (fig. 2), their structure, symmetry and dynamics as well as inorganic tellurium compounds.

Fig. 1. Comparison of ¹²³Te and ¹²⁵Te NMR of telluroxanthenone

Fig. 2. Molecular sructure of telluroxanthenone

Each type of tellurium compound has its characteristic chemical shift range (fig. 2).

Fig. 3. Chemical shift ranges for tellurium NMR

¹²³Tellurium NMR

¹²³Te NMR is less sensitive and yields slightly broader signals (fig. 4) than ¹²⁵Te NMR. Therefore, ¹²³Te NMR is not the tellurium nucleus of choice.

Fig. 4. Proton decoupled ¹²³Te spectrum of telluroxanthenone (0.1 M) in CDCl₃

Tellurium often shows couplings to other nuclei, ¹H, ¹³C, ³¹P, etc. Tellurium couplings to protons can be removed by decoupling as in the spectrum above. The coupled spectrum of telluroxanthenone (fig. 5) shows a three bond coupling to H1 (²J_123Te,H) of 22.8 Hz. Longer range couplings are not resolved.

Fig. 5. ¹²³Te spectrum of telluroxanthenone (0.1 M) in CDCl₃ showing proton coupling

Properties of ¹²³Te

(Click here for explanation)

Property	Value
Spin	1/2
Natural abundance	0.89%
Chemical shift range	5800 ppm, from -1400 to 3400
Frequency ratio (Ξ)	26.169742%
Reference compound	Me2Te (90%) in C6D6
Linewidth of reference	~3 Hz
T1 of reference	~2 s
Receptivity rel. to 1H at natural abundance	1.64 × 10-4
Receptivity rel. to 1H when enriched	0.018
Receptivity rel. to 13C at natural abundance	0.961
Receptivity rel. to 13C when enriched	108

¹²⁵Tellurium NMR

¹²⁵Te NMR is more sensitive and yields slightly sharper signals (fig. 6) that ¹²³Te NMR. Therefore, ¹²⁵Te NMR is the tellurium nucleus of choice.

Fig. 6. Proton decoupled ¹²⁵Te spectrum of telluroxanthenone (0.1 M) in CDCl₃

Tellurium often shows couplings to other nuclei, ¹H, ¹³C, ³¹P, etc. Tellurium couplings to protons can be removed by decoupling as in the spectrum above. The coupled spectrum of telluroxanthenone (fig. 7) shows a three bond coupling to H1 (²J_125Te,H) of 37.0 Hz. Longer range couplings are not resolved.

Fig. 7. ¹²⁵Te spectrum of telluroxanthenone (0.1 M) in CDCl₃ showing proton coupling

The tellurium couplings are also observed as slightly broad satellites in the proton spectrum and are easily confused with impurity signals. They only appear as satellites because the abundance of ¹²⁵Te is only 7.07%. The abundance of ¹²³Te is so low that its coupling is not noticeable in the ¹H spectrum. ¹³C coupling is manifested as small satellite signals in the ¹²⁵Te spectrum (fig. 8). Here couplings up to three bonds are observed. One bond coupling constants are in the region of 270 Hz, 2 and 3 bond couplings range from 10 to 75 Hz and longer range couplings are less than 10 Hz.

Fig. 8. ¹²⁵Te spectrum of telluroxanthenone (0.1 M) in CDCl₃ showing satellites arising from ¹³C coupling

Tellurium carbon coupling is also seen as satellite signals in the ¹³C NMR spectrum (fig. 9).

Fig. 9. Proton decoupled ¹³C spectrum of telluroxanthenone (0.1 M) in CDCl₃ showing satellites arising from ¹²⁵Te coupling

Properties of ¹²⁵Te

(Click here for explanation)

Property	Value
Spin	1/2
Natural abundance	7.07%
Chemical shift range	5800 ppm, from -1400 to 3400
Frequency ratio (Ξ)	31.549769%
Reference compound	Me2Te (90%) in C6D6
Linewidth of reference	1.5 Hz
T1 of reference	~2 s
Receptivity rel. to 1H at natural abundance	2.28 × 10-3
Receptivity rel. to 1H when enriched	0.0322
Receptivity rel. to 13C at natural abundance	13.4
Receptivity rel. to 13C when enriched	190

Safety note

Some of the materials mentioned here are very dangerous. Ask a qualified chemist for advice before handling them. Qualified chemists should check the relevant safety literature before handling or giving advice about unfamiliar substances. NMR solvents are toxic and most are flammable. Specifically, tellurium compounds are toxic (LD₅₀ 2.5 mg): wear protective gloves. Dimethyl tellurium is volatile and stinks: wear protective clothing and work in a hood. Latex gloves do not provide protection

References

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