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

Abstract

We report on the synthesis of a distannyne supported by a pincer 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 electron-withdrawing properties of the –Sn(Ar)H– backbone units generated via oxidative addition.