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Published April 13, 1977 | public
Journal Article

Synthesis and crystal structure of cis-diammineplatinum α-pyridone blue

Abstract

The blue compounds formed from aqueous solutions of platinum(II) in the presence of amides have been a subject of study since the original report of "Platinblau" in 1908.[1-3] Recent interest in these complexes was sparked by the discovery that aquated products of the antitumor drug cis-dichlorodiammineplatinum(II) undergo a slow reaction with polyuracil, uracil, thymine, and related pyrimidines (1) to form blue complexes. [4] The platinum pyrimidine blues have antitumor activity of their own [4,5] and are useful electron microscopic stains for DNA.[6] Attempts to crystallize these blue complexes have been largely unsuccessful because they are oligomeric mixtures of varying degrees of hydrolytic instability.[7] With synthetic insights provided by the detailed studies of Lerner [7] and the choice of α-pyridone (2) as the amide ligand [8], we have obtained a crystalline platinum blue and determined its structure by x-ray crystallography.

Additional Information

© 1977 American Chemical Society. Received February 2, 1977. This work was supported by National Institutes of Health Research Grant No. CA-15826 and by a National Research Service Award (to D.J.S.) No. CA-05806, both from the National Cancer Institute. We also thank the National Science Foundation for a Predoctoral Fellowship to J. K. B., Engelhard Industries for a generous loan of K_2PtCl_4, and P. Aisen for advice about integrating the electron spin resonance spectrum.

Additional details

Created:
August 19, 2023
Modified:
October 26, 2023