Molecular tectonics: Self-assembly of pyridyl bearing nucleobases

A library of organic tectons (1–3 and 5) combining nucleobases and a pyridyl moiety connected at the position 4 of the ring was designed and synthesized. The solid-state structure of tectons 1–3 was investigated by X-ray diffraction on single crystal. Owing to the self-complementary nature of the tectons bearing both H-bond donor and acceptor sites, compounds 1–3 self-assemble into H-bonded networks. The dimension of the latter is further increased when taking into account π-π stacking interactions.