Aerobic oxidation of thiols is efficiently catalyzed by diaryl tellurides such as bis(4-methoxyphenyl) telluride under photosensitized conditions to give the corresponding disulfides in good to excellent yields. In this catalytic system, the tellurone oligomer, produced by the reaction of a telluride with singlet oxygen, is assumed to be the active species and is capable of oxidizing 4 equiv of a thiol.

Efficient access to highly enantioselective isotope-labeled serine, cysteine, and alanine for stereoarray isotope labeling (SAIL) is described.

Diorganotellurides efficiently catalyze the aerobic oxidation of organosilanes under photosensitized conditions to afford the corresponding silanols in excellent yield.