Structural chemistry of organotin(IV) complexes

The amazing structural diversity in organotin compounds is discussed in the systems containing -O and -S donor ligands. It is demonstrated that there exist a fascinating range of structural diversity for organotin(IV) complexes, including differences in coordination number and molecular geometry. The difference in structure is correlated with the nature of tin and ligand bonded R groups. Despite the large number of different structures found in organotin(IV) carboxylates, there is limited range of coordination geometries about the Sn atom. The four coordinated Sn atom in triorganotin(IV) complexes is invariably distorted tetrahedral and five coordinated Sn is distorted trigonal bipyramidal. A large range has been observed for diorganotin carboxylate structures, where five, six and seven coordinate geometries have been reported. The Sn atom in mono-organotin has only been demonstrated to exist in distorted octahedral geometries (the single exception being a pentagonal bipyramidal geometry). In the case of organotin(IV) complexes of S donor ligands, it has been shown that there exists a rich diversity in Sn atom geometries and coordination modes of the sulfur donor ligands themselves. As in related carboxylate systems, the assignment of coordination numbers to the Sn centers in some compounds is controversial. As a general trend, it has been shown that, the overall coordination number at the Sn atom decreases with the increasing number of organic substituents at the Sn atom. This phenomenon is usually achieved by increased asymmetry in the mode of coordination of the sulfur donor ligands.