Minor adjustments in the chemical structures of pyridine derivatives induced different co-assemblies by O-H⋯N hydrogen bonds.

The co-adsorption behaviours of aromatic carboxylic acids with various pyridine derivatives were investigated with scanning tunneling microscopy and density functional theory. Surprisingly, minor adjustments in the chemical structures of the pyridine derivatives, such as the relative position of the nitrogen atom or the lengths of the side chains on the backbone would evidently affect the intermolecular O-H⋯N hydrogen bonds and further form various co-adsorption structures.