Isostructural crystal packing and hydrogen bonding in alkylammonium tin(IV) chloride compounds

The three isostructural compounds butyl­ammonium hexa­chlorido­tin(IV), pentyl­ammonium hexa­chlorido­tin(IV) and hexyl­ammonium hexa­chlorido­tin(IV), (CnH2n+1NH3)2[SnCl6], with n = 4, 5 and 6, respectively, crystallize as inorganic–organic hybrids. As such, the structures consist of layers of [SnCl6]2− octa­hedra, separated by hydro­carbon layers of inter­digitated butyl­ammonium, pentyl­ammonium or hexyl­ammonium cations. Corrugated layers of cations alternate with tin(IV) chloride layers. The asymmetric unit in each compound consists of an anionic component comprising one Sn and two Cl atoms on a mirror plane, and two Cl atoms in general positions; the two cations lie on another mirror plane. Application of the mirror symmetry generates octa­hedral coordination around the Sn atom. All compounds exhibit bifurcated and simple hydrogen-bonding inter­actions between the ammonium groups and the Cl atoms, with little variation in the hydrogen-bonding geometries.