The influence of perchloric acid on 2,3-dimethylpyrazine and 1,2-bis(4-pyridyl)ethane: crystal structure and Hirshfeld surfaces analysis

2,3-Dimethylpyrazine and 1,2-bis(4-pyridyl)ethane are both N-containing aromatic heterocyclics with two N atoms approximately in the para position. We here report two compounds derived from these heterocyclics (compounds 1 and 2). Compounds 1 and 2 both form a 1:1 2,3-dimethylpyrazine:perchloric acid (PA) and 1,2-bis(4-pyridyl)ethane:PA cocrystal, respectively. Their crystal structures were characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, which revealed that the C-Ha <-O and N-Ha <-O hydrogen bonding interactions were found to stabilize the crystal structure in compounds 1 and 2. However, PA plays a necessary role for the one-dimensional structure in 1 and the three-dimensional structure in 2. Hirshfeld surfaces and fingerprint plots were applied to get the same conclusion.