Tin(IV) bromide is the

chemical compound A chemical compound is a chemical substance composed of many identical molecules (or molecular entities) containing atoms from more than one chemical element held together by chemical bonds. A molecule consisting of atoms of only one element ...

SnBr₄. It is a colourless low melting solid.

Structure

SnBr₄ crystallises in a

monoclinic crystal system In crystallography, the monoclinic crystal system is one of the seven crystal systems. A crystal system is described by three vectors. In the monoclinic system, the crystal is described by vectors of unequal lengths, as in the orthorhombic sy ...

with molecular SnBr₄ units that have distorted tetrahedral geometry. The mean Sn-Br bond length is 242.3 pm.

Preparation

SnBr₄ can be prepared by reaction of the elements at

standard temperature and pressure Standard temperature and pressure (STP) or standard conditions for temperature and pressure are various standard sets of conditions for experimental measurements used to allow comparisons to be made between different sets of data. The most used ...

(STP): : + 2 →

Reactions

aqueous solution An aqueous solution is a solution in which the solvent is water. It is mostly shown in chemical equations by appending (aq) to the relevant chemical formula. For example, a solution of table salt, also known as sodium chloride (NaCl), in water ...

SnBr₄ dissolves to give a series of octahedral (six-ligated) bromo-aquo complexes. These include and ''cis''- and ''trans''-. SnBr₄ forms 1:1 and 1:2 complexes with

ligand In coordination chemistry, a ligand is an ion or molecule with a functional group that binds to a central metal atom to form a coordination complex. The bonding with the metal generally involves formal donation of one or more of the ligand's el ...

s. With

trimethylphosphine Trimethylphosphine is an organophosphorus compound with the formula P(CH3)3, commonly abbreviated as PMe3. This colorless liquid has a strongly unpleasant odor, characteristic of alkylphosphines. The compound is a common ligand in coordination c ...

both . Tin(IV) bromide undergoes redistribution with tin(IV) chloride as assessed by ¹¹⁹Sn NMR and

Raman spectroscopy Raman spectroscopy () (named after physicist C. V. Raman) is a Spectroscopy, spectroscopic technique typically used to determine vibrational modes of molecules, although rotational and other low-frequency modes of systems may also be observed. Ra ...

. Equilibrium is achieved in seconds at room temperature. By contrast, halide exchange for related germanium and especially silicon halides is slower.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tin(Iv) Bromide Bromides Metal halides Tin(IV) compounds