Unusual Transformation of Trialkylamines Mediated by Platinum

An interesting chemical transformation of trialkylamines has taken place during the reaction of 2-(2‘,6‘-dimethylphenylazo)-4-methylphenol (1) with K₂[PtCl₄] in refluxing methanol in the presence of trialkylamines, leading to the formation of organoplatinum complexes (2 and 3), where ligand 1 is coordinated as a bidentate N,O donor and the transformed trialkylamines are coordinated as bidentate C,N donors.