A singly bonded amido-distannyne: H-2 activation and isocyanide coordination

The first amido-distannyne, (LSnSnL dagger)-Sn-dagger (L-dagger = -N(Ar-dagger)(SiPr3i), Ar-dagger = C6H2{C(H)Ph-2}(2)Pr-i-2,6,4), has been prepared and shown to possess a very long Sn-Sn single bond; the compound activates dihydrogen under ambient conditions to give (LSn)-Sn-dagger(mu-H)(2)SnL dagger, and reacts with (BuNC)-N-t to give a stable adduct complex, L-dagger((BuNC)-N-t) SnSn(CNBut)L-dagger.