The 1:1 reaction
s of aliphatic primary amine
s[RNH
2] with [Sn(NMe
2)
2]yield the imido Sn(II) cubane
s [SnNR]
4;however, for highly
sterically crowded amine
s thi
s reaction i
s retardedand the model intermediate
s[Sn{NR}
2{Sn(
s/entitie
s/mgr.gif">-NMe
2)}
2] [R =2,6-Pr
iC
6H
3 (Dipp)(
1), 2,4,6-Me
3C
6H
2 (Me
s)(
2)] can be i
solated. The latter indicatethatthe formation of imido cubane
s and trimer
s from the metalationreaction
s of primary amine
s with a range ofgroup 14 precur
sor
s may occur via a common reaction
sequence involving
stepwi
se metalation. Thelow-temperature X-ray
structure
s of
1 and
2 showthem to have
similar [Sn
3N
4] cagearrangement
s con
si
sting ofa planar {Sn(NR)
2} unit
straddling a{Sn(
s/entitie
s/mgr.gif">-NMe
2)}
2 ring. Nointermolecular a
ssociation occur
s in the
solid-
state
structure of
1. However, the reduced
stericdemand
s of the Me
s group
s in
2 lead to a complicatedthree-dimen
sional network con
si
sting of fu
sed hexameric unit
s linked bySn···Sn interaction
s.