organic compounds
In the inner-salt zwitterion of 3,6-bis(pyridin-2-yl)pyrazine-2,5-dicarboxylic acid, (I), namely 5-carboxy-3-(pyridin-1-ium-2-yl)-6-(pyridin-2-yl)pyrazine-2-carboxylate, [C16H10N4O4, (Ia)], the pyrazine ring has a twist–boat conformation. The opposing pyridine and pyridinium rings are almost perpendicular to one another, with a dihedral angle of 80.24 (18)°, and are inclined to the pyrazine mean plane by 36.83 (17) and 43.74 (17)°, respectively. The carboxy and carboxylate groups are inclined to the mean plane of the pyrazine ring by 43.60 (17) and 45.46 (17)°, respectively. In the crystal structure, the molecules are linked via N—HO and O—HO hydrogen bonds, leading to the formation of double-stranded chains propagating in the [010] direction. On treating (Ia) with aqueous 1 M HCl, the diprotonated dihydrate form 2,2′-(3,6-dicarboxypyrazine-2,5-diyl)bis(pyridin-1-ium) dichloride dihydrate [C16H12N4O42+·2Cl−·2H2O, (Ib)] was obtained. The cation lies about an inversion centre. The pyridinium rings and carboxy groups are inclined to the planar pyrazine ring by 55.53 (9) and 19.8 (2)°, respectively. In the crystal structure, the molecules are involved in N—HCl, O—HOwater and Owater—HCl hydrogen bonds, leading to the formation of chains propagating in the [010] direction. When (Ia) was recrystallized from dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), the DMSO disolvate 3,6-bis(pyridin-2-yl)pyrazine-2,5-dicarboxylic acid dimethyl sulfoxide disolvate [C16H10N4O4·2C2H6OS, (Ic)] of (I) was obtained. Here, the molecule of (I) lies about an inversion centre and the pyridine rings are inclined to the planar pyrazine ring by only 23.59 (12)°. However, the carboxy groups are inclined to the pyrazine ring by 69.0 (3)°. In the crystal structure, the carboxy groups are linked to the DMSO molecules by O—HO hydrogen bonds. In all three crystal structures, the presence of nonclassical hydrogen bonds gives rise to the formation of three-dimensional supramolecular architectures.