The diatomic molecule tellurium monoxide has been found as a transient species.[2] Previous work that claimed the existence of TeO solid has not been substantiated.[3] The coating on DVDs called tellurium suboxide may be a mixture of tellurium dioxide and tellurium metal.[4]
Tellurium monoxide was first reported in 1883 by E. Divers and M. Shimose.[5] It was supposedly created by the thermal decomposition of tellurium sulfoxide in a vacuum,[citation needed] and was shown to react with hydrogen chloride in a 1913 report.[6] Later work has not substantiated the claim that this was a pure solid compound.[2] By 1984, the company Panasonic was working on an erasable optical disk drive containing "tellurium monoxide" (really a mixture of Te and TeO2).[7]
