Abstract
An error in the original formulation of the title compound in the paper by Sadiq-ur-Rehman, Sherzaman, Ali, Shahzadi & Helliwell [Acta Cryst. (2007), E63, m2329] is corrected.The title compound in the paper by Sadiq-ur-Rehman, Sherzaman, Ali, Shahzadi & Helliwell [Acta Cryst. (2007), E63, m2329] was an unexpected product which seemed to have nitrate coordinated to three Sn atoms. However, it was noticed that the charges do not balance and that it is most likely that the nitrate is in fact a carbonate. Regrettably, there is no material to carry out microanalysis, but a plausible mechanism has been suggested to explain the unexpected formation of the product. Trimethyl-tin chloride will react with methanol in the presence of a base (4-hydroxy-piperidine) to give trimethyl-tin methoxide, which will rapidly hydrolyze in air to give the hydroxide. Both the methoxide and the hydroxide will react with atmospheric CO(2) to give the carbonate (Bloodworth et al., 1967 ▶; Blunden et al., 1984 ▶; Sato, 1967 ▶). Me(3)SnCl + MeOH + base → Me(3)SnOMe + base·HCl Me(3)SnOMe + H(2)O → Me(3)SnOH + MeOH Me(3)SnOH + CO(2) → Me(3)SnOCO(2)HMe(3)SnOCO(2)H + Me(3)SnOMe → Me(3)SnOCO(2)SnMe(3) + MeOH. The carbonate then forms a coordination copolymer with trimethyl-tin chloride. The name of the title compound is corrected to poly[μ(3)-carbonato-μ(3)-chlorido-nona-methyl-tri-tin(IV)], [Sn(3)(CH(3))(9)(CO(3))Cl] (M(r) = 586.84).[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1107/S1600536808017091.].