The condensation of CUBE, in general, appears to be driven mainly by the oxophilicity of the metal in the precursor, which is the primary factor limiting the use of certain elements with CUBE. The driving force is higher for alkyl metals than for the corresponding metal chlorides, and it also decreases for heavy elements. The preference of [SnMe3] + to bind to Cl -over CUBE has a supporting effect, where at low temperatures, the condensation is slightly disfavored, while at high temperatures (100 °C), this process contributes over 20 kJ mol -1 of the additional driving force, helping to complete the condensation.