The hexachalcogenodistannates K 6 [Sn III 2 Se 6 ] or Li 4 [Sn IV 2 Te 6 ]·8en were recently reported to simultaneously act as mild oxidants and chalcogenide sources in reactions with CoCl 2 / LiCp* (Cp* ϭ pentamethylcyclopentadienide) while the SnϪE (E ϭ Se, Te) fragment is not kept in the products, e.g. [(Cp*Co) 3 (µ 3 -Se) 2 ], [(Cp*Co) 3 (µ 3 -Se) 2 ][Cl 2 Co(µ 2 -Cl) 2 Li(thf) 2 ] or [(Cp*Co) 4 (µ 3 -Te) 4 ]. In search of related reagents with possibly different reaction behavior, we isolated and crystallographically characterized isotypic compounds [enH] 4 [Sn IV 2 Se 6 ]·en (1), and [enH] 4 [Sn IV 2 Te 6 ]·en (2) (en ϭ 1,2-diaminoethane), that result from an uncommon disproportion/re-arrangement reaction: distannate(III) K 6 [Sn 2 E 6 ] (E ϭ Se, Te) was reacted with en·2HCl to yield 1 or 2 under disproportion of Sn III to Sn II and Sn IV . Another pathway was necessary to synthesize the respective but solvent-free thiostannate [enH] 4 -