Cyclometallated platinum(II) complexes: oxidation to, and C-H activation by, platinum(IV).

A series of cyclometallated phenylpyridine platinum(II) complexes have been synthesised with a systematic variation in both the phenylpyridine and the ancillary ligand. Oxidation of one of the cyclometallated species leads to a number of isomeric platinum(IV) complexes, all of which eventually isomerize to a single compound. The route to these new compounds has been demonstrated to involve an initial slow oxidation followed by a rapid C-H activation to give doubly cyclometallated complexes. The solid state structures of a number of both the platinum(II) and the platinum(IV) species have been solved; many of the structures exhibited extended interactions that result in complex three dimensional packing.