2-Amino-5-methylene-pyrimidine-4,6-dione-based Janus G-C nucleobase as a versatile building block for self-assembly.

This communication reports a nature-inspired Janus G-C nucleobase featuring two recognition sites: DDA (G mimic) and DAA (C mimic), which is capable of forming a linear tape-like supramolecular polymer structure. As demonstrated herein, the amino group of this self-assembling system can be further modified to yield a highly stable quadruple H-bonding system as well as a masked self-assembling system cleavable upon exposure to light.