Substituent effects on the geometries and energies of the tin–nitrogen multiple bond

The unimolecular rearrangement of tinnitrile, XSnN, (X=H, Li, BeH, BH2, CH3, NH2, OH, and F) to tinimine SnNX is considered using MP2 and QCISD calculations. The theoretical findings suggest that highly electronegative substitution (i.e., X=F) occurs preferentially at tin, and thus strongly stabilizes triply bonded XSnN, with respect to doubly bonded SnNX, both from a thermodynamic and from a kinetic viewpoint.