organic compounds
Anhydrous guanine: a synchrotron study
aSchool of Natural Sciences (Chemistry), Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, England
*Correspondence e-mail: w.clegg@ncl.ac.uk
Very small crystals of anhydrous guanine (systematic name: 2-amino-1,7-dihydro-6H-purin-6-one), C5H5N5O, were obtained from an attempted solvothermal synthesis of a potassium complex. Data were collected at 120 K using a synchrotron radiation source. There is one essentially planar molecule in the Molecules are linked to each other by N—H⋯N and N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds to form sheets, between which there are π–π stacking interactions. This determination demonstrates conclusively that, in the absence of any solvent or other molecules, guanine exists as the amino–keto tautomer in the solid state, with H atoms attached to N1 and N7 (purine numbering), unlike its monohydrate, which has H atoms on N1 and N9.
Comment
In view of the importance of the nucleobases adenine, cytosine, guanine, thymine and uracil as components of the ), and the structural characterization of many of their derivatives, it is surprising that the crystal structures of anhydrous adenine and guanine have not yet been reported, although the structures of hydrates are known for both (Tret'yak et al., 1987; Thewalt et al., 1971). By contrast, the structures of anhydrous cytosine (Barker & Marsh, 1964; McClure & Craven, 1973), thymine (Ozeki et al., 1969; Portalone et al., 1999) and uracil (Stewart & Jensen, 1967) have been known for some time, together with hydrates of cytosine (Jeffrey & Kinoshita, 1963; Neidle et al., 1976; Eisenstein, 1988; McClure & Craven, 1973) and thymine (Gerdil, 1961), but not of uracil.
DNA and RNA (Blackburn & Gait, 1996For some time, an area of our research has concentrated on the synthesis and characterization of s-block metal complexes with pyridones and related compounds. As an extension of this work, we are studying the structural chemistry of complexes of nucleobases. Their structural chemistry with transition metals is well known and many complexes have been synthesized and characterized. In contrast, the literature does not contain many structures of s-block metal nucleobase complexes and little information is available on the subject (Gibson et al., 2002), despite their use as reagents (often as sodium or potassium derivatives) to permit further reactions with transition metals.
The et al., 2000). Guanine are involved in intermediary metabolism and can also be found in animal tissues. Guanine, like other related bases, can exist in a tautomeric keto–enol equilibrium. It is known that the predominant form of guanine, thymine and uracil is the keto form, and the predominant form for cytosine and adenine is the amino form (Saenger, 1984). A particular interest in the of anhydrous guanine is to see which tautomeric form occurs and which two of the four ring N atoms are protonated. In the literature, the favoured positions of these two H atoms have often been found to be at N1 and N9, as for guanine monohydrate (Thewalt et al., 1971).
of guanine is of great importance, as this purine is present in both DNA and RNA (LippertAs part of our work, we obtained very small crystals of anhydrous guanine, (I), in an attempted solvothermal synthesis with potassium metal in ethanol. Because of the weak diffraction, data collection was carried out at Station 9.8 of the Synchrotron Radiation Source (SRS) at Daresbury Laboratory, England, through the EPSRC National Crystallography Service.
The is shown in Fig. 1 and consists of one molecule of guanine. The molecule is essentially planar (r.m.s. deviation of 0.009 Å for all non-H atoms) and, in contrast with guanine monohydrate, the two protonated ring N atoms are found to be N1 and N7. Table 1 gives selected bond lengths and angles for the anhydrous structure. The most significant differences from the monohydrate (Thewalt et al., 1971) are the reversal of the N7—C8 and N9—C8 bond lengths and a shortening of C5—C7 in the anhydrous structure: N7—C8 = 1.342 (5) Å in the anhydrate (cf. 1.319 Å in the hydrate), N9—C8 = 1.328 (6) Å (cf. 1.369 Å) and C5—N7 = 1.373 (5) Å (1.405 Å). These differences clearly reflect the different sites of protonation, N7 versus N9. Other bond lengths are very similar in the two structures.
of (I)The difference in tautomeric form between the two structures is presumably a consequence of hydrogen bonding in the crystal structures. Fig. 2 shows the hydrogen bonding in the of anhydrous guanine. Along the b axis, the molecules are linked together to create infinite chains and show a triple hydrogen-bonding motif, ADD⋯DAA (Burrows et al., 1995), where the donors are N—H and the acceptor atoms are N3, N9 and O6. Geometric details of the hydrogen bonds are given in Table 2. Hydrogen bonds in which atom N7 is the donor and atom O6 the acceptor link these chains together into sheets parallel to (102) (Fig. 3). The spacing between the sheets is 3.263 Å, typical of nucleobase stacking and indicating π–π interactions involving offset parallel rings. Guanine monohydrate also forms sheets, but the water molecules are incorporated in the hydrogen bonding and promote the transfer of an H atom from N7 to N9 in order to give favourable hydrogen-bonding interactions.
Experimental
Very small crystals of guanine were obtained from an attempted solvothermal synthesis, using guanine (150 mg) and solid potassium (40 mg) in dry ethanol (10 ml). The mixture was stirred for 1 h and then heated in an autoclave at 523 K for 7 d.
Crystal data
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Data collection
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Refinement
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Diffraction from the very small crystals was weak, and even with synchrotron radiation significant intensities were not observed beyond a resolution of 0.9 Å. Nevertheless, these data gave an excellent structural result, albeit with a lower data/parameter ratio than usual. SADABS (Sheldrick, 2003) was used to correct for the synchrotron beam decay. All H atoms were found in a difference map and their positions were freely refined [C8—H8 = 0.97 (5) Å; N—H distances are given in Table 2], with Uiso(H) = 1.2Ueq(C,N).
Data collection: APEX2 (Bruker, 2004); cell SAINT (Bruker, 2004); data reduction: SAINT; program(s) used to solve structure: SIR2002 (Burla et al., 2003); program(s) used to refine structure: SHELXTL (Sheldrick, 2001); molecular graphics: SHELXTL and DIAMOND (Brandenburg & Putz, 2004); software used to prepare material for publication: SHELXTL and local programs.
Supporting information
10.1107/S0108270106026011/gd3036sup1.cif
contains datablocks global, I. DOI:Structure factors: contains datablock I. DOI: 10.1107/S0108270106026011/gd3036Isup2.hkl
Very small crystals of guanine were obtained from an attempted solvothermal synthesis, with guanine (150 mg) and solid potassium (40 mg) in dry ethanol (10 ml). The mixture was stirred for 1 h and then heated in an autoclave at 523 K for 7 d.
Diffraction from the very small crystals was weak, and even with synchrotron radiation significant intensities were not observed beyond a resolution of 0.9 Å. Nevertheless, these data gave an excellent structural result, albeit with a lower data/parameter ratio than usual. SADABS (Sheldrick, 2003) was used to correct for the synchrotron beam decay. All H atoms were found in a difference map and their positions were freely refined [Range of distances with s.u.s?], with Uiso(H) = 1.2Ueq(C,N).
Data collection: APEX2 (Bruker, 2004); cell
SAINT (Bruker, 2004); data reduction: SAINT; program(s) used to solve structure: SIR2002 (Burla et al., 2003); program(s) used to refine structure: SHELXTL (Sheldrick, 2001); molecular graphics: SHELXTL and DIAMOND (Brandenburg & Putz, 2004); software used to prepare material for publication: SHELXTL and local programs.C5H5N5O | F(000) = 312 |
Mr = 151.14 | Dx = 1.792 Mg m−3 |
Monoclinic, P21/c | Synchrotron radiation, λ = 0.6712 Å |
Hall symbol: -P 2ybc | Cell parameters from 856 reflections |
a = 3.5530 (16) Å | θ = 2.3–21.5° |
b = 9.693 (4) Å | µ = 0.14 mm−1 |
c = 16.345 (7) Å | T = 120 K |
β = 95.748 (6)° | Block, colourless |
V = 560.1 (4) Å3 | 0.01 × 0.01 × 0.01 mm |
Z = 4 |
Bruker APEX2 CCD area-detector diffractometer | 624 reflections with I > 2σ(I) |
Radiation source: Daresbury SRS station 9.8 | Rint = 0.054 |
Silicon 111 monochromator | θmax = 21.9°, θmin = 2.3° |
thin–slice ω scans | h = −3→3 |
3444 measured reflections | k = −10→10 |
795 independent reflections | l = −17→18 |
Refinement on F2 | Secondary atom site location: difference Fourier map |
Least-squares matrix: full | Hydrogen site location: difference Fourier map |
R[F2 > 2σ(F2)] = 0.059 | Only H-atom coordinates refined |
wR(F2) = 0.183 | w = 1/[σ2(Fo2) + (0.1065P)2 + 0.537P] where P = (Fo2 + 2Fc2)/3 |
S = 1.15 | (Δ/σ)max < 0.001 |
795 reflections | Δρmax = 0.34 e Å−3 |
116 parameters | Δρmin = −0.34 e Å−3 |
0 restraints | Extinction correction: SHELXTL (Sheldrick, 2001), Fc*=kFc[1+0.001xFc2λ3/sin(2θ)]-1/4 |
Primary atom site location: structure-invariant direct methods | Extinction coefficient: 0.12 (5) |
C5H5N5O | V = 560.1 (4) Å3 |
Mr = 151.14 | Z = 4 |
Monoclinic, P21/c | Synchrotron radiation, λ = 0.6712 Å |
a = 3.5530 (16) Å | µ = 0.14 mm−1 |
b = 9.693 (4) Å | T = 120 K |
c = 16.345 (7) Å | 0.01 × 0.01 × 0.01 mm |
β = 95.748 (6)° |
Bruker APEX2 CCD area-detector diffractometer | 624 reflections with I > 2σ(I) |
3444 measured reflections | Rint = 0.054 |
795 independent reflections | θmax = 21.9° |
R[F2 > 2σ(F2)] = 0.059 | 0 restraints |
wR(F2) = 0.183 | Only H-atom coordinates refined |
S = 1.15 | Δρmax = 0.34 e Å−3 |
795 reflections | Δρmin = −0.34 e Å−3 |
116 parameters |
Geometry. All e.s.d.'s (except the e.s.d. in the dihedral angle between two l.s. planes) are estimated using the full covariance matrix. The cell e.s.d.'s are taken into account individually in the estimation of e.s.d.'s in distances, angles and torsion angles; correlations between e.s.d.'s in cell parameters are only used when they are defined by crystal symmetry. An approximate (isotropic) treatment of cell e.s.d.'s is used for estimating e.s.d.'s involving l.s. planes. |
x | y | z | Uiso*/Ueq | ||
N1 | 0.3774 (9) | 0.0442 (3) | 0.7870 (2) | 0.0211 (10) | |
H1 | 0.404 (12) | −0.041 (5) | 0.765 (3) | 0.025* | |
N2 | 0.5651 (11) | 0.1590 (4) | 0.6746 (2) | 0.0256 (10) | |
H2A | 0.607 (13) | 0.081 (6) | 0.655 (3) | 0.031* | |
H2B | 0.649 (13) | 0.234 (5) | 0.652 (3) | 0.031* | |
C2 | 0.4541 (11) | 0.1664 (4) | 0.7498 (2) | 0.0201 (11) | |
N3 | 0.4177 (9) | 0.2891 (3) | 0.78463 (19) | 0.0225 (10) | |
C4 | 0.3014 (11) | 0.2830 (4) | 0.8611 (2) | 0.0201 (10) | |
C5 | 0.2209 (11) | 0.1636 (4) | 0.9017 (2) | 0.0205 (11) | |
O6 | 0.1943 (8) | −0.0830 (3) | 0.89372 (17) | 0.0258 (9) | |
C6 | 0.2561 (10) | 0.0331 (4) | 0.8648 (2) | 0.0203 (11) | |
N7 | 0.1204 (10) | 0.2027 (4) | 0.9772 (2) | 0.0240 (10) | |
H7 | 0.040 (13) | 0.148 (4) | 1.024 (3) | 0.029* | |
C8 | 0.1467 (12) | 0.3409 (4) | 0.9782 (3) | 0.0236 (11) | |
H8 | 0.108 (13) | 0.399 (5) | 1.025 (3) | 0.028* | |
N9 | 0.2563 (9) | 0.3949 (4) | 0.9098 (2) | 0.0234 (10) |
U11 | U22 | U33 | U12 | U13 | U23 | |
N1 | 0.025 (2) | 0.0148 (19) | 0.0224 (19) | −0.0019 (14) | −0.0001 (15) | 0.0020 (15) |
N2 | 0.032 (2) | 0.019 (2) | 0.026 (2) | −0.0011 (16) | 0.0023 (16) | 0.0007 (16) |
C2 | 0.016 (2) | 0.021 (2) | 0.023 (2) | 0.0012 (16) | −0.0036 (16) | 0.0004 (17) |
N3 | 0.0188 (19) | 0.024 (2) | 0.025 (2) | −0.0014 (14) | 0.0003 (14) | −0.0007 (15) |
C4 | 0.013 (2) | 0.022 (2) | 0.024 (2) | −0.0005 (16) | −0.0030 (16) | −0.0004 (18) |
C5 | 0.015 (2) | 0.021 (2) | 0.024 (2) | 0.0012 (16) | −0.0032 (17) | −0.0006 (17) |
O6 | 0.0268 (18) | 0.0227 (17) | 0.0282 (17) | 0.0021 (12) | 0.0039 (12) | 0.0031 (13) |
C6 | 0.009 (2) | 0.023 (2) | 0.028 (2) | 0.0017 (16) | −0.0002 (16) | 0.0036 (18) |
N7 | 0.022 (2) | 0.025 (2) | 0.024 (2) | 0.0028 (15) | −0.0031 (14) | 0.0017 (15) |
C8 | 0.018 (2) | 0.024 (2) | 0.028 (2) | 0.0017 (17) | −0.0022 (17) | 0.0002 (19) |
N9 | 0.019 (2) | 0.026 (2) | 0.024 (2) | −0.0025 (14) | 0.0015 (15) | 0.0030 (15) |
N1—H1 | 0.91 (5) | C4—N9 | 1.364 (5) |
N1—C2 | 1.372 (5) | C5—C6 | 1.412 (6) |
N1—C6 | 1.387 (5) | C5—N7 | 1.373 (5) |
N2—H2A | 0.85 (5) | O6—C6 | 1.249 (5) |
N2—H2B | 0.88 (5) | N7—H7 | 1.00 (5) |
N2—C2 | 1.330 (6) | N7—C8 | 1.342 (5) |
C2—N3 | 1.330 (5) | C8—H8 | 0.97 (5) |
N3—C4 | 1.356 (5) | C8—N9 | 1.328 (6) |
C4—C5 | 1.378 (6) | ||
H1—N1—C2 | 125 (3) | C4—C5—C6 | 121.0 (4) |
H1—N1—C6 | 110 (3) | C4—C5—N7 | 106.7 (3) |
C2—N1—C6 | 124.6 (3) | C6—C5—N7 | 132.3 (4) |
H2A—N2—H2B | 120 (5) | N1—C6—C5 | 111.8 (3) |
H2A—N2—C2 | 119 (3) | N1—C6—O6 | 120.0 (4) |
H2B—N2—C2 | 119 (3) | C5—C6—O6 | 128.3 (4) |
N1—C2—N2 | 117.0 (4) | C5—N7—H7 | 132 (2) |
N1—C2—N3 | 123.3 (4) | C5—N7—C8 | 105.2 (4) |
N2—C2—N3 | 119.7 (4) | H7—N7—C8 | 123 (2) |
C2—N3—C4 | 114.1 (3) | N7—C8—H8 | 125 (3) |
N3—C4—C5 | 125.2 (4) | N7—C8—N9 | 114.1 (4) |
N3—C4—N9 | 124.6 (4) | H8—C8—N9 | 121 (3) |
C5—C4—N9 | 110.2 (4) | C4—N9—C8 | 103.9 (3) |
C6—N1—C2—N2 | −179.5 (3) | C2—N1—C6—O6 | −179.8 (3) |
C6—N1—C2—N3 | −0.4 (6) | C4—C5—C6—N1 | 0.2 (5) |
N1—C2—N3—C4 | 0.7 (5) | C4—C5—C6—O6 | 179.9 (4) |
N2—C2—N3—C4 | 179.7 (3) | N7—C5—C6—N1 | −178.3 (4) |
C2—N3—C4—C5 | −0.6 (5) | N7—C5—C6—O6 | 1.4 (7) |
C2—N3—C4—N9 | 177.7 (3) | C4—C5—N7—C8 | −0.2 (4) |
N3—C4—C5—C6 | 0.1 (6) | C6—C5—N7—C8 | 178.5 (4) |
N3—C4—C5—N7 | 179.0 (3) | C5—N7—C8—N9 | −0.1 (5) |
N9—C4—C5—C6 | −178.4 (3) | N7—C8—N9—C4 | 0.4 (5) |
N9—C4—C5—N7 | 0.5 (4) | N3—C4—N9—C8 | −179.0 (4) |
C2—N1—C6—C5 | −0.1 (5) | C5—C4—N9—C8 | −0.5 (4) |
D—H···A | D—H | H···A | D···A | D—H···A |
N1—H1···N3i | 0.91 (5) | 1.97 (5) | 2.862 (5) | 167 (4) |
N2—H2A···N9i | 0.85 (5) | 2.17 (5) | 3.006 (5) | 173 (4) |
N2—H2B···O6ii | 0.88 (5) | 2.03 (5) | 2.902 (5) | 174 (4) |
N7—H7···O6iii | 1.00 (5) | 1.76 (5) | 2.742 (5) | 165 (4) |
Symmetry codes: (i) −x+1, y−1/2, −z+3/2; (ii) −x+1, y+1/2, −z+3/2; (iii) −x, −y, −z+2. |
Experimental details
Crystal data | |
Chemical formula | C5H5N5O |
Mr | 151.14 |
Crystal system, space group | Monoclinic, P21/c |
Temperature (K) | 120 |
a, b, c (Å) | 3.5530 (16), 9.693 (4), 16.345 (7) |
β (°) | 95.748 (6) |
V (Å3) | 560.1 (4) |
Z | 4 |
Radiation type | Synchrotron, λ = 0.6712 Å |
µ (mm−1) | 0.14 |
Crystal size (mm) | 0.01 × 0.01 × 0.01 |
Data collection | |
Diffractometer | Bruker APEX2 CCD area-detector diffractometer |
Absorption correction | – |
No. of measured, independent and observed [I > 2σ(I)] reflections | 3444, 795, 624 |
Rint | 0.054 |
θmax (°) | 21.9 |
(sin θ/λ)max (Å−1) | 0.556 |
Refinement | |
R[F2 > 2σ(F2)], wR(F2), S | 0.059, 0.183, 1.15 |
No. of reflections | 795 |
No. of parameters | 116 |
H-atom treatment | Only H-atom coordinates refined |
Δρmax, Δρmin (e Å−3) | 0.34, −0.34 |
Computer programs: APEX2 (Bruker, 2004), SAINT (Bruker, 2004), SAINT, SIR2002 (Burla et al., 2003), SHELXTL (Sheldrick, 2001), SHELXTL and DIAMOND (Brandenburg & Putz, 2004), SHELXTL and local programs.
N1—C2 | 1.372 (5) | C4—N9 | 1.364 (5) |
N1—C6 | 1.387 (5) | C5—C6 | 1.412 (6) |
N2—C2 | 1.330 (6) | C5—N7 | 1.373 (5) |
C2—N3 | 1.330 (5) | O6—C6 | 1.249 (5) |
N3—C4 | 1.356 (5) | N7—C8 | 1.342 (5) |
C4—C5 | 1.378 (6) | C8—N9 | 1.328 (6) |
C2—N1—C6 | 124.6 (3) | C4—C5—N7 | 106.7 (3) |
N1—C2—N2 | 117.0 (4) | C6—C5—N7 | 132.3 (4) |
N1—C2—N3 | 123.3 (4) | N1—C6—C5 | 111.8 (3) |
N2—C2—N3 | 119.7 (4) | N1—C6—O6 | 120.0 (4) |
C2—N3—C4 | 114.1 (3) | C5—C6—O6 | 128.3 (4) |
N3—C4—C5 | 125.2 (4) | C5—N7—C8 | 105.2 (4) |
N3—C4—N9 | 124.6 (4) | N7—C8—N9 | 114.1 (4) |
C5—C4—N9 | 110.2 (4) | C4—N9—C8 | 103.9 (3) |
C4—C5—C6 | 121.0 (4) |
D—H···A | D—H | H···A | D···A | D—H···A |
N1—H1···N3i | 0.91 (5) | 1.97 (5) | 2.862 (5) | 167 (4) |
N2—H2A···N9i | 0.85 (5) | 2.17 (5) | 3.006 (5) | 173 (4) |
N2—H2B···O6ii | 0.88 (5) | 2.03 (5) | 2.902 (5) | 174 (4) |
N7—H7···O6iii | 1.00 (5) | 1.76 (5) | 2.742 (5) | 165 (4) |
Symmetry codes: (i) −x+1, y−1/2, −z+3/2; (ii) −x+1, y+1/2, −z+3/2; (iii) −x, −y, −z+2. |
Acknowledgements
The authors thank Dr R. W. Harrington and Mr Z. Yuan for assistance with data collection as part of the EPSRC National X-ray Crystallography Service at Station 9.8, SRS, Daresbury, England. We are grateful to the EPSRC for funding and to the CCLRC for synchrotron beam-time allocation.
References
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In view of the importance of the nucleobases adenine, cytosine, guanine, thymine and uracil as components of the nucleic acids DNA and RNA (Blackburn & Gait, 1996), and the structural characterization of many of their derivatives, it is surprising that the crystal structures of anhydrous adenine and guanine have not yet been reported, although the structures of hydrates are known for both (Tret'yak et al., 1987; Thewalt et al., 1971). By contrast, the structures of anhydrous cytosine (Barker & Marsh, 1964; McClure & Craven, 1973), thymine (Ozeki et al., 1969; Portalone et al., 1999) and uracil (Stewart & Jensen, 1967) have been known for some time, together with hydrates of cytosine (Jeffrey & Kinoshita, 1963; Neidle et al., 1976; Eisenstein, 1988; McClure & Craven, 1973) and thymine (Gerdil, 1961), but not of uracil.
For some time, an area of our research has concentrated on the synthesis and characterization of s-block metal complexes with pyridones and related compounds. As an extension of this work, we are studying the structural chemistry of complexes of nucleobases. Their structural chemistry with transition metals is well known and many complexes have been synthesized and characterized. In contrast, the literature does not contain many structures of s-block metal nucleobase complexes and little information is available on the subject (Gibson et al., 2002), despite their use as reagents (often as sodium or potassium derivatives) to permit further reactions with transition metals.
The crystal structure of guanine is of great importance, as this purine is present in both DNA and RNA (Lippert et al., 2000). Guanine nucleotides are involved in intermediary metabolism and can also be found in animal tissues. Guanine, like other related bases, can exist in a tautomeric keto–enol equilibrium. It is known that the predominant form of guanine, thymine and uracil is the keto form, and the predominant form for cytosine and adenine is the amino form (Saenger, 1984). A particular interest in the crystal structure of anhydrous guanine is to see which tautomeric form occurs and which two of the four ring N atoms are protonated. In the literature, the favoured positions of these two H atoms have often been found to be at N1 and N9, as for guanine monohydrate (Thewalt et al., 1971).
As part of our work, we obtained very small crystals of anhydrous guanine, (I), in an attempted solvothermal synthesis with potassium metal in ethanol. Because of the weak diffraction, data collection was carried out at Station 9.8 of the Synchrotron Radiation Source (SRS) at Daresbury Laboratory, England, through the EPSRC National Crystallographic Service.
The asymmetric unit of (I) is shown in Fig. 1 and consists of one molecule of guanine. The molecule is essentially planar (r.m.s. deviation of 0.009 Å for all non-H atoms) and, in contrast with guanine monohydrate, the two protonated ring N atoms are found to be N1 and N7. Table 1 gives selected bond lengths and angles for the anhydrous structure. The most significant differences from the monohydrate (Thewalt et al., 1971) are the reversal of the N7—C8 and N9—C8 bond lengths and a shortening of C5—C7 in the anhydrous structure: N7—C8 = 1.342 (5) Å in the anhydrate (cf. 1.319 Å in the hydrate), N9—C8 = 1.328 (6) Å (cf. 1.369 Å), and C5—N7 = 1.373 (5) Å (1.405 Å). These differences clearly reflect the different sites of protonation, N7 versus N9. Other bond lengths are very similar in the two structures.
The difference in tautomeric form between the two structures is presumably a consequence of hydrogen bonding in the crystal structures. Fig. 2 shows the hydrogen bonding in the crystal structure of anhydrous guanine. Along the b axis, the molecules are linked together to create infinite chains and show a triple hydrogen-bonding motif, ADD···DAA (Burrows et al., 1995), where the donors are N—H and the acceptor atoms are N3, N9 and O6. Geometric details of the hydrogen bonds are given in Table 2. Hydrogen bonds in which atom N7 is the donor and atom O6 the acceptor link these chains together into sheets parallel to (102) (Fig. 3). The spacing between the sheets is 3.263 Å, typical of nucleobase stacking and indicating π–π interactions involving offset parallel rings. Guanine monohydrate also forms sheets, but the water molecules are incorporated in the hydrogen bonding and promote the transfer of an H atom from N7 to N9 in order to give favourable hydrogen-bonding interactions.