The kinetics of substitution reactions of mixed platinum(II)-bis(nucleoside) complexes in aqueous solution in the presence of thiourea; X-ray crystal structure determination of cis-

In aqueous solution, bis(nucleoside) complexes formed by the reaction of cis-[Pt(NH3)2(H2O)2]2+ with an excess of either adenosine (ado) or a mixture of adenosine and guanosine (guo) undergo a slow N7--> N1 linkage isomerisation in the adenine moiety. The isomerisation probably involves the breaking and reformation of Pt-nucleoside bonds, thus favouring the more stable N1 binding mode of the adenine base. Dynamic processes due to the presence of adenosine in the platinum coordination sphere are slow on the NMR time scale. The N7 binding mode of PtII in cis-[Pt(NH3)2(ado-N7)2](ClO4)2. 3.5H2O was confirmed by X-ray crystal structure analysis. In both of the crystallographically independent cations, the PtII coordination sphere is almost ideally square planar, with typical Pt-N bond lengths and angles. The most significant difference between the two cations lies in the sugar conformation of the coordinated nucleosides. In one cation, both have an anti (-ap) conformation, whilst in the other cation one has an anti (-ap) conformation and the other a syn (+sc) conformation stabilised by a relatively strong H-bond. Substitution of the nucleoside(s) by thiourea follows an associative mechanism with only a negligible contribution by the solvent path. For symmetric complexes, the order of lability of different binding modes is ado-N1