Velo Gala, InmaculadaBarceló Oliver, MiquelGil, Diego M.González Pérez, Josefa MaríaCampos CastiñeirasCastiñeiras Campos, AlfonsoDomínguez Martín, Alicia2021-03-162021-03-162021Pharmaceuticals 2021, 14(3), 244; https://doi.org/10.3390/ph14030244http://hdl.handle.net/10347/24794The synthetic nucleoside acyclovir is considered an outstanding model of the natural nucleoside guanosine. With the purpose of deepening on the influence and nature of non-covalent interactions regarding molecular recognition patterns, three novel Cu(II) complexes, involving acyclovir (acv) and the ligand receptor N-(2-hydroxyethyl)ethylenediamine (hen), have been synthesized and thoroughly characterized. The three novel compounds introduce none, one or two acyclovir molecules, respectively. Molecular recognition has been evaluated using single crystal X-ray diffraction. Furthermore, theoretical calculations and other physical methods such as thermogravimetric analysis, infrared and UV-Vis spectroscopy, electron paramagnetic resonance and magnetic measurements have been used. Theoretical calculations are in line with experimental results, supporting the relevance of the [metal-N7(acv) + H-bond] molecular recognition pattern. It was also shown that (hen)O-H group is used as preferred H-donor when it is found within the basal coordination plane, since the higher polarity of the terminal (hen)O-H versus the N-H group favours its implication. Otherwise, when (hen)O-H occupies the distal coordination site, (hen)N-H groups can take overeng© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)Atribución 4.0 Internacionalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/AcyclovirMolecular recognitionDFTNon-covalent interactionsH-bondsjournal article10.3390/ph140302441424-8247open access