Synthesis, Structure, and Electropolymerization of 3,4-Dimethoxytellurophene: Comparison with Selenium Analogue

3,4-Dimethoxytellurophene (5) was synthesized via a new ring construction reaction. The crystal structure of 5 is characterized by unusually short Te center dot center dot center dot Te distances. The electropolymerization of 5 probably produces some amount of poly-5. Since the product was unstable under experimental conditions, a definitive assignment could not be made. However, the UV-vis spectrum recoded during electropolymerization of 5 shows an absorption peak at 679 nm with an onset at 820 nm (1.51 eV), closely matching the calculated band gap of poly-5.