This communication explores the effect of varying substituent bulk at the N9 position of the adenine moiety and its effect in dictating the structural aspects of silver-adenine frameworks. While adenine alone or 9-benzyl substituted ligand afforded mono and dinuclear dimeric entities, n-propyl substitution at the N9 position results in the formation of a metallaquartet. Longer n-alkyl chains (hexyl and nonyl) resulted in the formation of linear polymeric chains, via N1 and N7 coordination. © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2010.