Polystannanes: Polymers of a molecular, jacketed metal-wire structure

Polystannanes, organometallic polymers with a backbone of covalently connected tin atoms, can be regarded as molecular metal wires surrounded by a jacket of organic matter (see figure). Polymers that differ in the length of the alkyl side groups feature reversible phase transitions into liquid-crystalline states (some of them even below room temperature) and are oriented either parallel or perpendicular to external driving forces, depending on the length of the alkyl substituents.