Synthesis and crystal structure of a silver(I) 6-methylmercaptopurine riboside complex.

Silver nitrate reacts with 6-methylmercaptopurine riboside (6-MMPR) in aqueous solution containing methanol and dimethyl sulfoxide at room temperature to give a colourless crystalline complex, namely, bis(6-methylmercaptopurine riboside-κN 7 )(nitrato-κ 2 O,O')silver(I) 2.32-hydrate, [Ag(NO 3 )(C 11 H 14 N 4 O 4 S) 2 ]·2.32H 2 O. The crystal structure, determined from synchrotron diffraction data, shows a central Ag I ion on a crystallographic twofold rotation axis, coordinated in an almost linear fashion by two 6-MMPR ligands via atom N7 (purine numbering), with the nitrate counter-ion loosely coordinated as a bidentate ligand, forming a discrete molecular complex as an approximate dihydrate. The complex and water molecules are connected in a three-dimensional network by hydrogen bonding.