Unprecedented platinum(II) coordination compound of sterically hindered 3,3′-bis(NH-benzimidazol-2-yl)-2,2′-bipyridine ligand

•Cis-[Pt(L)Cl2]⋅DMSO, a novel coordination compound is reported.•The ligand shows a unique coordination mode.•The molecular units in the lattice have the R22 (14) graph-set motif.•The dimer structure is stabilized by H-bond formation.•All systems were investigated with DFT and TD-DFT methods.