STRUCTURAL CHEMISTRY OF TRIORGANOTIN FLUORIDES - THE CRYSTAL-STRUCTURE OF TRICYCLOHEXYLTIN FLUORIDE REVISITED

The crystal structure of tricyclohexyltin fluoride has been redetermin ed to be polymeric. The compound crystallizes in the trigonal P3cl spa ce group with a = 11.103(2), c = 8.708(1) Angstrom and Z = 2. The Sn-F -Sn bridges are linear and asymmetric with Sn-F distances of 2.051(10) and 2.303(10) Angstrom. These distances are rationalised in terms of the structure-correlation; method which assumes bond-order conservatio n and Pauling's relationship between bond length and bond order. The p olymeric structure is consistent with the physical properties of Sn(C6 H11)(3)F and variable-temperature Mossbauer spectroscopic data. It is proposed that, for rod-polymeric triorganotin fluorides, the repeat di stance can give information about the Sn-F distances.