Reactivity of alkynyl selenides and tellurides derivatives: a review

Alkynyl chalcogen derivatives, particularly alkynyl selenides and alkynyl tellurides, have gained increasing prominence over the last decade (2014–2025) due to their distinctive electronic features and broad synthetic applicability. The characteristic behavior of the C-Se and C-Te bonds, combined with the versatile reactivity of the alkyne moiety, enables these compounds to participate in a wide range of transformations, including electrophilic cyclization, cycloadditions, and hydrofunctionalization processes under metal-catalyzed or metal-free conditions. This review provides a systematic overview of the recent advances in the reactivity of alkynyl chalcogenides. It includes their use as starting materials in the synthesis of (hetero)cycles, alkenyl chalcogenides and other compounds, strategies involving the generation of alkynyl selenides in situ, processes in which the organoselenium/organotellurium moiety acts as a leaving group, and methodologies that preserve the Se- or Te-alkynyl unit. Overall, this article highlights the strategic role of alkynyl selenides and tellurides as powerful and increasingly sustainable intermediates in modern organochalcogen chemistry.