G-arylated hydrogen-bonded cyclic tetramer assemblies with remarkable thermodynamic and kinetic stability.

The preparation and self-assembly of novel G-C dinucleoside monomers that are equipped with electron-poor aryl groups at the G-N(2) amino group have been studied. Such monomers associate via Watson-Crick H-bonding into discrete unstrained tetrameric macrocycles that arise as a thermodynamically and kinetically stabilized product in a wide variety of experimental conditions, including very polar solvent environments and low concentrations. G-arylation produces an increased stability of the cyclic assembly, as a result of a subtle interplay between enthalpic and entropic effects involving the solvent coordination sphere.