Hexaorgano-substituted triatomics R3XYZR3: the configurations of organometallic sulphides (R3M)2S and the crystal and molecular structure of thio-bis[triphenyltin(IV)]

Crystals of thio-bis[triphenyltin(IV)], S(Ph₃Sn)₂, are orthorhombic, space-group P2₁2₁2₁, with a = 18.469(5), b = 17.648(5), c = 9.848(6) Å and Z = 4. The SnS distances are 2.405(9) and 2.417(7) Å and SnSSn angle is 107.3(2)°: there are no anomalous features in the structure analogous to those in O(Ph₃Sn)₂-MNDO calculations for a series of organometallic sulphides (Me₃M)₂S⁺ⁿ (M = Be, B, C, N, Si, P) indicate that the inversion barrier to linearity increases monotonically, and the skeletal bending force constant at linearity decreases correspondingly as the group Me₃M becomes more electro-negative.