Pure and Applied Chemistry

Abstract: Selenium chemistry became, over the last 30 years, particularly useful for synthetic organic chemistry [1]. Inorganic as well as organic selenium compounds allow transformation which otherwise cannot be done or require much more drastic conditions to proceed. We have over the last 25 years explored the reactivity of elemental selenium as well as its inorganic and organic derivatives. We report here our recent finding concerning (i) organic diselenols and -diselenolates and (ii) the role of selenoxides in the enantioselective dihydroxylation of C,C double bonds using catalytic amounts of osmium tetroxide.