Octa-methyl-bis-(μ(2)-2-methyl-benzoato-κO:O')bis-(2-methyl-benzoato-κO)di-μ(3)-oxido-tetra-tin(IV).

The title compound, [Sn(4)(CH(3))(8)(C(8)H(7)O(2))(4)O(2)], is a distann-oxane derivative of 2-methyl-benzoic acid. The crystal structure is composed of centrosymmetric dimers lying about inversion centres. Both independent Sn atoms adopt distorted trigonal-bipyramidal SnC(2)O(3) coordination geometries with the basal planes consisting of two C-atoms from the methyl groups and a bridging O atom. The Sn-C and Sn-O bond lengths lie in the ranges 2.090 (2)-2.104 (3) and 2.0241 (14)-2.2561 (15) Å, respectively. The central four-membered planar Sn(2)O(2) ring [Sn⋯Sn distance = 3.2993 (2) Å] makes dihedral angles of 5.43 (11) and 59.50 (7)° with the methyl-phenyl groups, which are themselves oriented at a dihedral angle of 61.38 (8)°. Besides weak C-H⋯O and C-H⋯π inter-actions, the packing mainly features van der Waals forces between the mol-ecules.