A series of new rare-earth cadmium metal tellurite chlorides were synthesized by the salt flux technique and characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The new compounds CdSm2(TeO3)2Cl4 (I), CdEu2 (TeO3)2Cl4 (II), and CdGd2(TeO3)2Cl4 (III), adopt layered structures corresponding to sequences of metal oxide [LnTeO3] and metal halide [Cd1-xCl3] layers. They expand the known family of 2D rare-earth selenium oxyhalides into the realm of tellurium(IV) compounds and add a new targeted structure type involving rock salt slabs formed by edge-sharing CdCl6 octahedra. The major differences in the structures of Se and Te compounds lie in the composition of the cationic slabs {[Ln11(SeO3)12]9+ vs. [Ln12(TeO3)12]12+} and symmetry (orthorhombic for selenites vs. tetragonal for tellurites). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]