Synthesis and characterization of some diorganotin(IV) complexes of Schiff bases derived from a non-protein amino acid. Crystal structures of {HO2CC6H4[NC(H)}{C(CH3)CH(CH3)-3-OH]-p} and its di-n-butyltin(IV) complex (nBu2Sn{O2CC6H4[NC(H)}{C(CH3)CH(CH3)-3-OH]-p}2)

Diorganotin(IV) complexes R2Sn(LH)2 (R = Me, nBu) and {[nBu2Sn(LH)]2O}2 (LH = 4-[(2Z)-(3-hydroxy-1-methyl-2-butenylidene)amino]benzoate and 4-[{(E)-1-(2-hydroxyphenyl)methylidene}mino]benzoate) have been reported. The complexes were characterized by elemental analysis, IR, NMR (1H, 13C, 119Sn) and 119mSn Mossbauer spectroscopy. Crystal structures of a ligand {HO2CC6H4[NC(H)}{C(CH3)CH(CH3)-3-OH]-p} and one of its di-n-butyltin(IV) complexes (nBu2Sn{O2CC6H4[NC(H)}{C(CH3)CH(CH3)-3-OH]-p}2) were determined. The spectroscopic data suggest that R2Sn(LH)2 complexes have skew-trapezoidal bipyramidal structure while {[nBu2Sn(LH)]2O}2 complexes adopt a dimeric tetraorganodistannoxane structure in the solid state and undergo complex exchange processes in deuterochloroform solution, as revealed by 119Sn NMR spectroscopy. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.