The Synthesis of Quinoline‐based Tin Complexes with Pendant Schiff Bases

Whilst pursuing the synthetic utility of quinoline‐based tin complexes, Me2Sn(Quin‐NO2)2 (1) and Ph2Sn(Quin‐NO2)2 (2) (Quin‐NO2 = 5‐nitroquinolino‐8‐oate) were synthesized bearing coordinatively inert nitro groups. Conventional reduction methodologies successfully converted 1 to Me2Sn(Quin‐NH2)2 (3) and 2 to Ph2Sn(Quin‐NH2)2 (4) (Quin‐NH2 = 5‐aminoquinolino‐8‐oate). The synthetically useful amine groups proved difficult to exploit in the presence of the central tin atom, however, a complete Schiff base functionalized Sn complex of the dimethyltin pro‐ligand Me2Sn(Quin‐py)2 (6) was successfully synthesized from 5‐[(pyridin‐2‐ylmethylene)amino]quinolin‐8‐ol (HQuin‐py; 5) in good yield via an alternative strategy exploiting the oxophilic tendencies of tin. All species were fully characterized by NMR (including 119Sn NMR spectroscopy), HR‐ESI MS and single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction, and preliminary studies of their supramolecular potential are also discussed.