The structure of the title compound, [PtCl₂(C₅H₅N)(C₂H₆S)], consists of discrete mol­ecules in which the Pt-atom coordination is slightly distorted square planar. The Cl atoms are trans to each other, with a Cl—Pt—Cl angle of 176.60 (7)°. The pyridine ligand is rotated 64.5 (2)° from the Pt square plane and one of the Pt—Cl bonds essentially bisects the C—S—C angle of the di­methyl sulfide ligand. In the crystal structure, there are extensive weak C—HCl interactions, the shortest of which connects mol­ecules into centrosymmetric dimers. A comparison of the structural trans influence on Pt—S and Pt—­N distances for PtS(CH₃)₂ and Pt(pyridine) fragments, respectively, in square-planar Pt^II complexes is presented.

The first structurally characterized alkali metal phospho­nate, the title compound, [K₂(C₆H₆O₃P)₂(C₃H₇NO)(H₂O)]_n, has a complex structure, with layers parallel to the crystallographic bc plane consisting of two crystallographically independent K atoms sandwiched between the three types of ligands present in the structure, viz. water molecules, dimethyl­formamide molecules and two crystallographically independent phenyl­phospho­nate ligands. Six O atoms coordinate to one K atom and seven to the other. The interlayer distance is 15.327 (4) Å. The K—O distances are in the range 2.739 (2)–2.932 (2) Å for the seven-coordinate K atom and 2.650 (2)–2.821 (2) Å for the six-coordinate K atom.