Treatment of cis-Pt(Me2SO)(2)C(l)2 with DNSH-tren afforded [Pt(DNSH-tren)Cl]Cl and with DNSH-dienH, under increasingly more basic conditions, led to Pt( DNSH-dienH)Cl-2, Pt(DNSH-dien)Cl, and Pt(DNS-dien). (DNSH = 5-(dimethylamino)naphthalene-1-sulfonyl, linked via a sulfonamide group to tris(2-aminoethyl) amine (DNSH-tren) and diethylenetriamine (DNSH-dienH); the H's in DNSH-dienH designate protons sometimes lost upon Pt binding, i.e., sulfonamide NH for the dienH moiety and H8 for the DNSH moiety). Respectively, the three neutral DNSH-dienH-derived complexes are difunctional, monofunctional, and nonfunctional and exhibit decreasing fluorescence in this order as the dansyl group distance to Pt decreases. 2D NMR data establish that Pt(DNS-dien) has a Pt-C8 bond and a Pt-N(sulfonamido) bond. Pt(DNSH-dien)Cl and [Pt(DNSH-tren)Cl]Cl bind to N7 of 6-oxopurines (e.g., 5'-GMP, 3'-IMP, and 9-ethylguanine) and sulfur of methionine (met). Competition and challenge reactions for Pt(II) with met and 5'-GMP typically reveal that met binding is favored kinetically but that 5'-GMP binding is favored thermodynamically. This common type of behavior was found for [Pt(DNSH-tren) Cl]Cl. In contrast, Pt(DNSH-dien)Cl had reduced kinetic selectivity for met. This unusual behavior undoubtedly arises as a consequence of the bound Pt-N(sulfonamido) group, which donates strongly to Pt (as indicated by relatively upfield dien NH signals) and which places the bulky DNSH moiety close to the monofunctional reaction site. The decrease in the relatively upfield shifts of the DNSH group signals indicates that this group stacks with the purine. This stacking could explain the unprecedented, relatively low reactivity of a Pt complex bearing a dien-type ligand toward met vs 5'-GMP.