The X-ray crystal structures of four mixed-nucleobase complexes 1a, 1b, 2, and 4 of trans-a2PtII (a = NH3 or
CH3NH2) with N1-bonded 7,9-dimethylguanine (7,9-DimeG) and N7-bonded 9-ethylguanine (9-EtGH) are reported.
The compounds are discussed in terms of their possible model character for platinated nucleobase triplets of the
pu × pu·pym (pu = purine, pym = pyrimidine) type and are compared with known guanine·guanine pairs. Structural
differences resulting from a “metal modification” have been studied, as have been stacking and H bonding motifs.
1a and 1b are two modifications of the same compound, trans-[(NH3)2Pt(7,9-DimeG)(9-EtGH)](ClO4)2·H2O.
X-ray data for 1a: orthorhombic, Pca21, a = 13.833(3) Å, b = 14.357(3) Å, c = 13.293(3) Å, Z = 4, R = 0.027.
1b: monoclinic, P21/n, a = 13.987(3) Å, b = 12.582(3) Å, c = 15.613(3) Å, β = 104.61(3)°, Z = 4, R = 0.034.
trans-[(CH3NH2)2Pt(7,9-DimeG)(9-EtGH)](ClO4)2 (2): orthorhombic, Pca21, a = 13.886(1) Å, b = 14.698(1)
Å, c = 13.008(3) Å, Z = 4, R = 0.034. trans-[a2Pt(7,9-DimeG)(9-EtG)](ClO4)·nH2O (3, a = NH3, n = 2; 4, a
= CH3NH2, n = 3). X-ray data for 4: monoclinic, C2/c, a = 23.296(5) Å, b = 10.566(2) Å, c = 22.327(4) Å,
β = 93.73(3)°, Z = 8, R = 0.047. The metalated base triplet 2·(1-MeC) (1-MeC = 1-methylcytosine) has been
detected in DMSO-d
6 solution through 1H NMR spectroscopy, and an ab initio optimized structure of an analogous
platinated base triplet has been obtained.