One-Step Trimethylstannylation of Benzyl and Alkyl Halides

Trialkylstannanes are good leaving groups that have been used for the formation of carbon-metal bonds to electrode surfaces for analyses of single-molecule conductivity. Here, we report the multistep synthesis of two amide-containing compounds that are of interest in studies of molecular rectifiers. Each molecule has two trimethylstannyl units, one linked by a methylene and the other by an ethylene group. To account for the very different reactivities of the parent halides, a new methodology for one-step trimethylstannylation was developed and optimized.