Synthesis, characterization and structural studies of mixed-ligand di-n-butyltin alkanesulfonate derivatives, [n-Bu2Sn(X)OS(O)2R]2 [R = Et, n-Pr; X = acac, 4-OMe–O2CC9H5N-2, O2CC9H6N-2, O2CC9H6N-1]

A number of stable mixed-ligand di-n-butyltin alkanesulfonates, [n-Bu2Sn(acac)OS(O)2R]2 [R = Et (1), n-Pr (2)] as well as [n-Bu2Sn(X)OS(O)2Et]2 [X = 4-OMe–O2CC9H5N-2 (3), O2CC9H6N-2 (4), O2CC9H6N-1 (5) bearing a chelating co-ligand have been synthesized by reacting equimolar quantities of n-Bu2Sn(OR)OS(O)2R (R = Et (1a) or n-Pr (1b)) with acetylacetone or 4-methoxy-2-quinoline/2-quinoline/1-isoquinoline carboxylic acid in dichloromethane/acetonitrile under mild conditions (rt, 10–12 h). The crystal structures of 1–3 reveal dimeric structural motif in each case by virtue of bridging bidentate mode of the ethane/propanesulfonate groups with distorted octahedral geometry around the tin atoms. The bonding between tin and the alkanesulfonate groups is largely covalent (2.2–2.3 Å) irrespective of the nature of the co-ligand.