Reactions of equimolar quantities of potassium 2-{[(2Z)-3-hydroxy-1-methyl-2-butenylidene]amino}acetate,with R n SnX 4−n (R: benzyl-and n = 2 or 3) in methanol yielded products of compositions LHSn(PhCH 2 ) 3 and LSn(PhCH 2 ) 2 , respectively. The complexes were characterized by microanalysis, IR, NMR ( 1 H, 13 C, 119 Sn) and 119m Sn Mössbauer spectroscopy. A full characterization of the structure of the complex, tribenzyl{2-{[(2Z)-3-hydroxy-1-methyl-2-butenylidene]amino}acetato}tin(IV), was carried out by single crystal X-ray crystallography. The compound exists as centrosymmetric dimers in which two ligand molecules bridge the two tin centres. Each of the tin atoms in the dimeric unit is five coordinate in an approximately trigonal bipyramidal configuration, with carbon atoms