Covalently bonded compounds of heavy group 15/16 elements - Synthesis, structure and potential application in material sciences

- Intermolecular interactions in the solid state, which have been addressed to the so-called thermoelectric behavior, are discussed.
- Single crystals were often grown using an in situ crystallization process.
- The nature of the chemical bonding in group 15/16 compounds RME and R3ME, which formally contain a ME double bond, is described.
- Their promising potential to serve as single-source precursor for the generation of nanoparticles and thin films in solution-based and gas phase-based processes under mild reaction conditions is discussed.