Use of bis-aminoalcohol benzoquinones and dihydroxybenzoquinones in the formation of mono and polymeric structures of diorganotin(IV) derivatives

Reaction of three hexadentate ligands (L1–L3) derived from 1,4-benzoquinone bis(aminoalcohols) with diorganotin oxides (R2Sn-O)n (with R = Me, nBu, Ph) in 1:2 stoichiometric proportions lead to the formation of dinuclear tin compounds of the composition [(R2Sn)2(L)], wherein the five-coordinate metal centers are embedded in distorted trigonal-bipyramidal polyhedra. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that diorganotin complexes carrying n-butyl groups tend to associate further through intermolecular O⋯Sn interactions to give 1D polymeric chains, while diphenyltin analogues tend to be monomeric. On the other hand, using 2,5-dihydroxy-3,6-dichloro-1,4-benzoquinone as ligand (L4) in 1:1 reactions with the diorganotin oxide derivatives, 1D polymeric complexes of the composition [R2Sn(L4)(DMSO)]n with seven-coordinate metal centers in distorted pentagonal-bipyramidal coordination polyhedra were obtained. In this case, the presence of different substituents attached to the tin atoms (Me, nBu, Ph) had no influence on the molecular composition of the products, but on the conformation of the polymeric chain, which was either planar (R = Me), slightly distorted from planarity (R = nBu) or ondulated (R = Ph).