Cocrystallization of 1,3,5-cyclohexanetricarboxylic acid with 4,4'-bipyridine bases of different CH2 chain lengths (n = 0, 2, 4) has afforded the ternary host framework [H(3)CTA(.)bipy-eta(gauche)-(bipy-bu)(0.5)] (2), sustained by C-(HN)-N-... hydrogen bonds. Inclusion of p-dichlorobenzene in the square voids of host 2 provides the first example of a quaternary cocrystal. Crystal structures of ternary cocrystals 1-3 show that methylene chains of bipy bases are not mere inert spacer units but have a conformational and structural role in controlling the supramolecular architecture of molecular complexes with carboxylic acids.