A Tris(3‐pyridyl)stannane as a building block for heterobimetallic coordination polymers and supramolecular cages

Abstract

The systematic assembly of supramolecular arrangements is a persistent challenge in modern coordination chemistry, especially where further aspects of complexity are concerned, as in the case of large molecular mixed‐metal arrangements. One targeted approach to such heterometallic complexes is to engineer metal‐based donor ligands of the correct geometry to build 3D arrangements upon coordination to other metals. This simple idea has, however, only rarely been applied to main group metal‐based ligand systems. Here, we show that the new, bench‐stable tris(3‐pyridyl)stannane ligand PhSn(3‐Py)3 (3‐Py=3‐pyridyl) provides simple access to a range of heterometallic SnIV/transition metal complexes, and that the presence of weakly coordinating counter anions can be used to build discrete molecular arrangements involving anion encapsulation. This work therefore provides a building strategy in this area, which parallels that of supramolecular transition metal chemistry.