The 1:1 reactions of aliphatic primary amines[RNH
2] with [Sn(NMe
2)
2]yield the imido Sn(II) cubanes [SnNR]
4;however, for highly sterically crowded amines this reaction is retardedand the model intermediates[Sn{NR}
2{Sn(
-NMe
2)}
2] [R =2,6-Pr
iC
6H
3 (Dipp)(
1), 2,4,6-Me
3C
6H
2 (Mes)(
2)] can be isolated. The latter indicatethatthe formation of imido cubanes and trimers from the metalationreactions of primary amines with a range ofgroup 14 precursors may occur via a common reaction sequence involvingstepwise metalation. Thelow-temperature X-ray structures of
1 and
2 showthem to have similar [Sn
3N
4] cagearrangements consisting ofa planar {Sn(NR)
2} unit straddling a{Sn(
-NMe
2)}
2 ring. Nointermolecular association occurs in the solid-state structure of
1. However, the reduced stericdemands of the Mes groups in
2 lead to a complicatedthree-dimensional network consisting of fused hexameric units linked bySn···Sn interactions.