Structures of Pt2(CH3)4(S(CH3)2)2 and [PtPh2(S(CH3)2)]n (n=2, 3)

Pt2(CH3)4(S(CH3)2)2 (1) and [PtPh2(S(CH3)2]n (2) are widely used precursor compounds to a variety of organoplatinum compounds. Both compounds were formulated as Pt2R4(S(CH3)2)2 previously. Our investigation by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analyses revealed that compound 1 indeed exists as dinuclear compound in the solid state but compound 2 displays both a trinuclear cyclic structure and a dinuclear structure with the trinuclear structure being the dominant crystal form in the solid state.