Synthesis of stannane and deuterostannane

A method of synthesizing stannane or deuterostannane which comprises:

• dissolving a stannic halide in a cooled solvent to form a low temperature solution;
• forming a mixture of a reducing agent and a solvent;
• cooling the reducing agent solvent mixture;
• adding the stannic halide solution slowly while continuing to cool the stannic halide solution and the reducing agent mixture during addition to the reducing agent in solvent thereby forming a reaction mixture;
• forming a reaction product;
• removing reaction product from the reaction mixture during the addition of the stannic halide solution;
• removing reaction product after all of the stannic halide solution has been added and formation of the reaction product is complete;
• and
• collecting the reaction product in one or more cold traps;
• wherein the reducing agent is selected from lithium aluminum hydride or lithium aluminum deuteride and the temperature of at least one of the one or more cold traps is below the boiling point of the reaction product.