Cocrystals of 6‐propyl‐2‐thiouracil: N—H...O versus N—H...S hydrogen bonds

In order to investigate the relative stability of N—H...O and N—H...S hydrogen bonds, we cocrystallized the antithyroid drug 6‐propyl‐2‐thiouracil with two complementary heterocycles. In the cocrystal pyrimidin‐2‐amine–6‐propyl‐2‐thiouracil (1/2), C₄H₅N₃·2C₇H₁₀N₂OS, (I), the `base pair' is connected by one N—H...S and one N—H...N hydrogen bond. Homodimers of 6‐propyl‐2‐thiouracil linked by two N—H...S hydrogen bonds are observed in the cocrystal N‐(6‐acetamidopyridin‐2‐yl)acetamide–6‐propyl‐2‐thiouracil (1/2), C₉H₁₁N₃O₂·2C₇H₁₀N₂OS, (II). The crystal structure of 6‐propyl‐2‐thiouracil itself, C₇H₁₀N₂OS, (III), is stabilized by pairwise N—H...O and N—H...S hydrogen bonds. In all three structures, N—H...S hydrogen bonds occur only within R₂²(8) patterns, whereas N—H...O hydrogen bonds tend to connect the homo‐ and heterodimers into extended networks. In agreement with related structures, the hydrogen‐bonding capability of C=O and C=S groups seems to be comparable.