Guanine and related nucleobases such as guanosine, deoxyguanosine and isoguanosine are notable molecular tools for designing functional supramolecular assemblies. This popularity originates in their ability to self-assemble via a unique topological pluralism — as isolated nucleobases, discrete macrocyclic quartets and virtually infinite linear ribbons — that endows them with a considerable functional versatility. Many programmes have been launched to fine-tune the chemical properties of guanine derivatives, to make them usable under different experimental conditions, such as in organic or aqueous environments, and responsive to external stimuli, such as ionic strength, pH, light or temperature. These strategies aim to translate the chemical information encoded in a basic guanine unit into programmable, higher-order supramolecular architectures. Spectacular results have been recently obtained in various chemical fields, from supramolecular chemistry to chemical biology, from soft matter to catalysis. In this Review, we detail these advances and demonstrate how these multidisciplinary investigations cast a bright light on the diversity that guanines, synthetic guanines and related nucleobases uniquely offer in terms of both structure and function.

鸟嘌呤和相关的核碱基，例如鸟苷，脱氧鸟苷和异鸟苷是设计功能性超分子组装的著名分子工具。这种流行是由于它们通过独特的拓扑多元性（即孤立的核碱基，离散的大环四重态和几乎无限的线性带状）自组装的能力而赋予它们相当大的功能多样性。已经启动了许多程序来微调鸟嘌呤衍生物的化学性质，以使其可在不同的实验条件下使用，例如在有机或水性环境中，并响应于诸如离子强度，pH，光或温度的外部刺激。这些策略旨在将基本鸟嘌呤单元中编码的化学信息转化为可编程的高阶超分子体系结构。从超分子化学到化学生物学，从软物质到催化，最近在各个化学领域都获得了惊人的结果。在这篇综述中，我们详细介绍了这些进展，并展示了这些多学科研究如何为鸟嘌呤，合成鸟嘌呤和相关核碱基在结构和功能方面独特提供的多样性提供了亮点。