(3) are synthesized and characterized by elemental analyses, IR, 1 H, 13 C, 119 Sn NMR spectroscopy, and their structures are determined by X-ray crystallography. In complex 1 the coordination geometry at tin is a skewtrapezoidal bipyramid, with cis-S,S and cis-O,O atoms occupying the trapezoidal plane and two n-butyl groups occupying the apical positions, which also exhibits strong π -π stacking interactions. In complexes 2 and 3 the geometry at tin is distorted cis-octahedral, with cis-O,O and cis-C,C atoms occupying the equatorial plane and trans-S,S atoms occupying the apical positions. Their in vitro cytotoxicity against two human tumour cell lines, MCF-7 and WiDr is reported. The ID 50 values found are comparable to those found for cis-platin, but lower than for many other diorganotin compounds.