The coordination chemistry of the four oxa-crowned derivatives of dithiomaleonitrile mn-12S202, mn-1 5SZO3, mn18Sz04, and mn-21S205 as well as of the acyclic bis(methy1-thio)maleonitrile mn-S2 with AgI was investigated by X-ray structural and spectroscopic methods. [6]PF6, each mn-S2 acts as a monodentate NNltnle donor. -13C-NMR studies in nitromethane solution confirm that the Ag' ions in the complexes of the mncrown dithioethers remain coordinated. However, the Ag' ion in complex of mn-S2 is decoordinated.Crown thioether metal complexes can exhibit unusual coordination numbers, redox behavior, and spectroscopic properties [']. In the 1 : 1 complexes of crown thioethers 18S6 Mixed thioethedether coordination spheres on Ag' were recently described by Blake et al. for 1 : 1 complexes with SIO crowns 15s203 (1,4,7-trioxa-10,13-dithiacyclopentadecane)[91 and 18S204 (1,4,7,10-tetraoxa-13,16-dithiacyclooctadecane)~'o~. The 1 : 1 complex with 15s203 is a S-bridged linear chain polymer of [Ag( 1 5S203)]+ units with S203Sbndg& coordination at Ag', while 1 8S204 forms a binuclear species [Ag2( 1 8S2O4)I2+ in which each Ag' is tetrahedrally coordinated by two S and two 0 atoms. Attempts to isolate a 2: 1 complex of 15S203 with Ag' failed. Metal-free macrocycles 15S203 and 18S204 adopt conformations in which the S donors lie in ex0 positions" 'I. On endocyclic complexation with Ag' the conformation of the ligands must alter dramatically and this suggests that introduction of stereochemical constraints in the form of bulky or rigid groups might enhance the endocyclic coordination possibilities of mixed S/O crowns.We synthesized the oxa-crowned derivatives of dithiomaleonitrile mn-12S202, mn-15S203, mn-1 8S204[121, and mn-21S205[131 (for ligand abbreviations see Figure 1). In contrast to those in the saturated analogues 12S202, 15S203, and 18S204['1], the sulfur atoms in the uncomplexed unsaturated macrocycles mn-12S202, mn-15S203[141, and mn-18S204[131 have restricted exodentate conformations which should enhance the formation of endocyclic complexes. This should be useful for enforcing Ag' and other metal centres into unknown thioethedether coordination spheres. In order to clarify this assumption we prepared Ag' complexes of mn-S20n+l coronands (n: 1-4) and characterised their structures by X-ray analyses and spectroscoic methods. With [Ag(rr1n-l2S~O~)~]PF~, [1JPF6, we obtained the first sandwich complex with a mixed thioethedether coordination sphere. PdC12 ['5-171, and HgC12 c~rnplexes['~~'~] of mn-crown dithioethers were recently described by us and Sibert et al.