Hydrolysis and condensation of (CH3COCHCOCH3)2SnF(Otert-Am) and (CF3COCHCOCH3)2Sn(Otert-Am)2 gave soluble stannic oxo-oligomers or -polymers including fluorine and β-diketonate groups. Under thermal treatment in air at 550 °C, they yielded nanocrystalline fluorine-doped tin dioxide powders. The amount of remaining ligands in the xerosols depends on the hydrolysis ratio and on the nature of the solvent used, dimethylformamide (DMF) favoring ligand removal. The thermolytic reactions have been investigated by thermogravimetry coupled to mass spectrometry: (1) the β-diketonate ligands pyrolyze in two stages, at 200 and 320 °C, involving two different processes; (2) elimination of polar solvents of high boiling point, such as DMF, occurs up to 300 °C; (3) fluorine is lost as fluorhydric acid from 230 °C. The best strategy to prepare F-doped SnO2 materials by the sol−gel route is thus to start from precursors including Sn−F bonds and to use a polar aprotic solvent of low boiling point such as acetonitrile. It led to nanocrystalline, highly conductive F-doped tin dioxide materials with resistivities 1 order of magnitude lower than that reported for Sb-doped tin dioxide powders.

Dialkoxydi(beta-diketonate)tin(IV) compounds react either with difluorodi(beta-diketonate)tin(IV) or with butanoyl fluoride to yield novel tin complexes Sn(OR(1))F(R(2)COCHCOR(2))(2) 1 (R(1) = tert-amyl, isopropyl, ethyl; R(2) = methyl, tert-butyl). Multinuclear (1)H, (13)C, (19)F, and (119)Sn NMR spectroscopic characterization showed that complexes 1 are octahedral in solution with a cis configuration for the fluorine and the alkoxide group. Kinetics of configurational rearrangements were studied by variable-temperature (13)C NMR spectroscopy. The hydrolytic behavior of 1 was determined for different hydrolysis ratios h = [H(2)O]/[1]. For R(1) = tert-amyl, a dimeric fluorinated species was mainly obtained for h = 0.5, and addition of 2 mol equiv of water led to a fluorinated stannic oxopolymer soluble in CH(3)CN. In the latter case, the powder obtained after solvent elimination and treatment in air at 550 degrees C consisted of crystalline SnO(2) cassiterite particles containing the required amount (3 mol %) of doping fluorine and exhibiting electronic conductivity comparable to that of Sn-doped In(2)O(3). Complexes 1 are the first precursors of F-doped SnO(2) materials prepared by the sol-gel route.