The 2-pyrrolidinone (Pyrr)-assisted hydrolysis of aryltellurium trichlorides, provided their first-step hydrolysis products as 1 : 1 molecular adducts, ArTeCl 2 OH.Pyrr (Ar = 1-C 10 H 7 , Npl, 1; 2,4,6-Me 3 C 6 H 2 , Mes, 2). The hydroxo ligand occupies an equatorial position in the y-trigonal bipyramidal geometry around Te(IV) and is involved in a strong H-bonding interaction with the amido O of the base. As NplTeBr 3 did not react with 2-pyrrolidinone under similar conditions, the bromo analogue of 1, NplTeBr 2 OH.Pyrr (3), was prepared by a metathetical reaction with NaBr. Both 1 and 2 undergo electrophilic substitution with acetone and pinacolone to afford Ar(RCOCH 2 )TeCl 2 (R = Me, t-Bu), but do not react with iodoacetic acid, suggesting that the hydroxo ligand acts as a nucleophile rather than a base. The Te-OH bond in 1 is also cleaved by CH 3 COCl to give the parent trihalide NplTeCl 3 , while reaction with BrCH 2 COBr results in NplTeBr 3 (4) as the ultimate tellurium containing product. The reaction of NplTeCl 3 with N-Methyl protected 2-pyrrolidinone (PyrrMe), under similar conditions, gave an ionic complex [(PyrrMe) 2 H] [NplTeCl 4 ] ( 5), but did not react with N-acyl protected 2-pyrrolidinone, PyrrCOCH 2 Br. However, the latter added oxidatively to elemental tellurium to give (PyrrCOCH 2 ) 2 TeBr 2 (6). In the crystal lattice of 5, discreet five-coordinate square pyramidal CTeX 4 units are present, while in the case of 4 the same units are realized via intermolecular Te … Br interactions in a one-dimensional supramolecular architecture. N-(2-pyrrolidinone)amidomethyl ligands in 6 adopt a rare, if not the first, 1,6-(C,O) mode of chelation in preference to 1,4-(C,O) mode often observed in similar Te(IV) compounds.