Supramolecular synthons and pattern recognition in adenine amides – synthesis, structures and thermal properties

An effective method for the synthesis of novel adenine amides was developed and successfully implemented, leading to 4-propyloxy-N-(9H-purin-6-yl)benzamide (1) and 4-dodecyloxy-N-(9H-purin-6-yl)benzamide (2). The compounds were fully characterised by means of spectroscopic (1H NMR, 13C NMR, FT-IR) and thermal (TG, DSC) analysis. The crystallographic analysis revealed that the formation of supramolecular chains relies on hydrogen bonding between amide functionalities. All supramolecular synthons found in the crystal structure of 1 were confirmed with the temperature-dependent IR method. The temperature-dependent IR method is useful in determining supramolecular interactions for compound 2, for which the crystal structure could not be obtained. A detailed analysis of temperature-dependent FT-IR spectra was used for the first time to identify the hydrogen bonds that exist in the solid state of our compounds; it can therefore be considered a promising method for the pattern recognition of hydrogen bonding in supramolecular chemistry.