Synthesis and Structure of Organotin(IV) Complexes of Maltol

A series of organotin(IV) maltol complexes R4 — xSnLx (1–4, 6; x = 1–3) and the dichloro‐compound Cl2SnL2 (5) have been prepared and characterized on the basis of their IR‐, 1H‐, 13C‐ and 119Sn‐NMR data. While an X‐ray crystal structure analysis of Ph2SnL2 (4) and Cl2SnL2 (5) reveals distorted cis‐octahedral structures, the Me2SnL2 molecule (2) adopts a skew‐trapezoidal bipyramidal configuration with a very significant difference in the Sn‐O(keto) bond distances. The tris‐maltol complex BuSnL3 (6) exhibits a distorted pentagonal‐bipyramidal geometry with the butyl carbon and a hy‐droxy oxygen constituting the axial orientations.