The reactivity of the trinuclear tin cluster
[(Me2Sn)2(Me2SnO)(OCH3)(HONZO)(ONZO)]
(3a; HONZOH =
o-HONCH-C6H4-OH, salicylaldoxime)
toward proton-donating nucleophiles is investigated with the purpose of studying the influence of the
nature and acidity
of the entering nucleophile on the reactivity of 3a and the
stability of its cluster network.
Reactions of 3a with benzaldoxime,
HONCH-C6H5, and phenols
HO-C6H5-n
X
n
(pK
a > 8)
preserve the cluster network and give rise to smooth substitution of
the μ2-OCH3 moiety
for, respectively, a μ2-bridging benzaldoximate,
generating
[(Me2Sn)2(Me2SnO)(ONCHC6H5)(HONZO)(ONZO)] (4), and μ2-bridging
phenolates, generating
[(Me2Sn)2(Me2SnO)(OC6H5-n
X
n
)(HONZO)(ONZO)]
(n = 1, X = 4-Me (5a), 4-Br (5b),
3-Cl (5c), 3-NO2 (5d); n
=
2, 3,5-Me2 (5e)). More acidic or sterically
hindered ortho-disubstituted phenols lead to
decomposition of the trinuclear cluster or to mixtures from which no
pure trinuclear cluster
can be isolated. Reactions of 3a with carboxylic acids,
acetic and p-toluic acids, and
acetylacetone lead to clean decomposition of the trinuclear cluster,
yielding the respective
bis[dicarboxylatotetramethyldistannoxanes], 6a and
6b, and dimethyltin bis(acetylacetonate),
Me2Sn(acac)2, 7. Reaction of
3a with ethylene glycol generates a mixture of
trinuclear
clusters, from which 1,3-dioxa-2,2-dimethyl-2-stannacyclopentane
(8a) precipitates. Crystal
structure determinations by X-ray diffraction for 4,
5a, and 5b reveal essentially the
same
trinuclear clusters as in 3a and related compounds, with a
seven-coordinate pentagonal-bipyramidal tin atom linked to two five-coordinate trigonal-bipyramidal
tin atoms via a
network of oxygen atoms. All new trinuclear tin clusters have been
characterized in solution
by gradient-assisted 2D NMR.