Reversible Reactions of Ethylene with Distannynes Under Ambient Conditions

Tin Two-Step Doubly and triply bonded carbon compounds have a well-studied tendency to link up with one another and form rings. The rates of these reactions and their relative susceptibilities to acceleration by heat versus light are encapsulated in the decades-old Woodward-Hoffmann rules. More recently, alkene and alkyne analogs have been prepared with heavier elements such as silicon and tin substituted for carbon. Peng et al. (p. 1668 ; see the Perspective by Sita ) have now discovered that two distannynes (compounds with triply bonded tins) react readily with ethylene to form cycloadducts, with tin-carbon σ bonds taking the place of C-C and Sn-Sn π bonds. These products, characterized spectroscopically and crystallographically, are only loosely bound at room temperature, easily reverting to their multiply bonded precursors on gentle heating.