Stabilization of Three-Coordinated Germanium(II) and Tin(II) Cations by a Neutral Chelating Ligand

Treatment of the neutral 2-[C­(CH3)N­(C6H3-2,6-iPr2)]-6-(CH3O)­C6H3N ligand (hereafter assigned as L) with SnCl2 and GeCl2 provided the ionic germanium­(II) and tin­(II) complexes [LGeIICl]+­[GeIICl3]− (1) and [LSnIICl]+­[SnIICl3]− (2), respectively, as the result of spontaneous dissociation of ECl2 (E = Ge, Sn). The cationic parts [LEIICl]+ of 1 and 2 contain three-coordinated germanium­(II) and tin­(II) atoms. In comparison, treatment of the ligand L with GeCl4 and SnBr4 yielded the germanium­(IV) and tin­(IV) complexes LGeCl4 (3) and LSnBr4 (4), respectively, and no dissociation process was observed. Compounds 1–4 were characterized by means of elemental analyses, 1H, 13C, and 119Sn NMR spectroscopies, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis in (compounds 1 and 4).