Hydrogen-bonded ribbons in ethyl (E)-3-[2-amino-4,6-bis(dimethylamino)pyrimidin-5-yl]-2-cyanoacrylate and 2-[(2-amino-4,6-di-1-piperidylpyrimidin-5-yl)methylene]malononitrile.

The pyrimidine rings in ethyl (E)-3-[2-amino-4,6-bis(dimethylamino)pyrimidin-5-yl]-2-cyanoacrylate, C(14)H(20)N(6)O(2), (I), and 2-[(2-amino-4,6-di-1-piperidylpyrimidin-5-yl)methylene]malononitrile, C(18)H(23)N(7), (II), which crystallizes with Z' = 2 in the P1 space group, are both nonplanar with boat conformations. The molecules of (I) are linked by a combination of N-H...N and N-H...O hydrogen bonds into chains of edge-fused R(2)(2)(8) and R(4)(4)(20) rings, while the two independent molecules in (II) are linked by four N-H...N hydrogen bonds into chains of edge-fused R(2)(2)(8) and R(2)(2)(20) rings. This study illustrates both the readiness with which highly-substituted pyrimidine rings can be distorted from planarity and the significant differences between the supramolecular aggregation in two rather similar compounds.