This review covers the main axes of research developed at the Free Universities of Brussels between 1961 and 2001. This paper first introduces the concepts developed in the field of the cleavage reactions of carbon-tin bonds of RR'R"R"'Sn compounds by E-N reagents yielding R-E and R'R"R"'SnN in non-nucleophilic and nucleophilic solvents. The addition of a nucleophile at the metal atom is needed for allowing the electrophile to cleave the carbon-metal bond. The reaction can be characterized by retention of configuration at carbon when a cyclic constraint is imposed, or by inversion of configuration when such a constraint is not effective. The stereoselectivity at tin of bimolecular nucleophilic substitutions at tin is also discussed as well as the optical (in)stability of several classes of triorganotin derivatives. In the last part of this review, the promising in vitro antitumour activities of water-soluble di- and triorganotin compounds is covered.
chiral organotin compounds; kinetics; SE2; stereochemistry; optical stability; antitumour activity
