The potential catalytic activity of selected C,N-chelated organotin(IV) compounds (e.g. halides and trifluoroacetates) for derivatization of both dimethyl carbonate (DMC) and diethyl carbonate (DEC) was investigated. Some tri-, di-and monoorganotin(IV) species (L CN (n-Bu) 2 SnCl (1), L CN (n-Bu) 2 SnCl.HCl (1a), L CN (n-Bu) 2 SnI (2), L CN Ph 2 SnCl (3), L CN Ph 2 SnI (4), L CN (n-Bu)SnCl 2 (5), L CN SnBr 3 (6) and (7)) bearing the L CN moiety (L CN = 2-(N,N-dimethylaminomethyl)phenyl-) were assessed as catalysts for reactions of both DMC and DEC with various substituted anilines. The catalytic activities of 4 and 7 for derivatization of DMC with p-substituted phenols were studied for comparison with the standard base K 2 CO 3 /Silcarbon K835 catalyst (catalyst 8). The composition of resulting reaction mixtures was monitored by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy, GC and GC-MS techniques. In general, catalysts 1, 3 and 7 exhibited the highest catalytic activity for all reactions studied, while some of them yielded selectively carbonates, carbamates, lactam or substituted urea.