Controlling Oxidative Addition and Reductive Elimination at Tin(I) via Hemi‐Lability

Abstract

We report on the synthesis of adistannyne supported by ap incer ligand bearing pendant amine donors that is capable of reversibly activating E-H bonds at one or both of the tin centres through dissociation of the hemi-labile N-Sn donor/acceptor interactions.This chemistry can be exploited to sequentially (and reversibly) assemble mixed-valence chains of tin atoms of the type ArSn{Sn(Ar)H} n SnAr (n = 1, 2). The experimentally observed (decreasing) propensity towards chain growth with increasing chain length can be rationalized both thermodynamically and kinetically by the electronwithdrawing properties of the -Sn(Ar)H-backbone units generated via oxidative addition.