SYNTHESIS AND STRUCTURAL CHARACTERIZATION OF THE COMPLEX MER-[(RH(CNC8H9)3(SNCL3)(MU-SNCL2))2]

Compound mer-[{Rh(CNC8H9)3(SnCl3)(mu-SnCl2)}2] 1 has been isolated from the reaction of [Rh(CNC8H9)3Cl] (CNC8H9 = 2,6-xylyl isocyanide) with 2 mol of tin(II) chloride and its molecular structure has been determined by single-crystal X-ray techniques. Compound 1 crystallises in the monoclinic space group P2(1)/n with a = 14.005(3), b = 12.796(4), c = 19.389(3) angstrom, beta = 104.96(2)-degrees and Z = 2. The structure of 1 consists of two edge-sharing octahedral rhodium centres linked by two bridging SnCl2 groups. One terminal SnCl3 group and three isocyanide ligands, arranged in mer fashion, complete the co-ordination geometry about each rhodium atom. Tin-119 Mossbauer spectroscopy has been used to investigate the nature of the rhodium-tin bonding interaction in 1.