Stability and Conversion of Tin Zintl Anions in Liquid Ammonia Investigated by NMR spectroscopy.

Homoatomic polyanions of post-transition main-group metals, namely, Zintl anions, are precast in analogous Zintl phases and can react in solution to form new materials. Despite comprehensible reaction approaches, the formed products cannot be planned in advance, as hitherto undetected and therefore disregarded side reactions take place. The outcomes and interpretations of the reactions of Zintl anions are so far based mainly on crystal structures, which only allow characterization of the product that has the lowest solubility.

Reaction of Sn4(4-) in liquid ammonia: the formation of Rb6[(η2-Sn4)Zn(η3-Sn4)]·5NH3.

The reaction of Rb4Sn4 with ZnPh2 in liquid ammonia in the presence of [2.2.2]-cryptand yielded crystals of Rb6[(η(2)-Sn4)Zn(η(3)-Sn4)]·5NH3, which could be characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction.