The use of hydrogen-bonding patterns in the same way as is known from DNA building blocks is a challenge for the construction of novel types of suitable chromophoric probes. This feature has been utilised for the construction of a novel type of UV/Vis probe for detection of supramolecular AAD or DAD sequences (A=hydrogen bond acceptor, D=hydrogen bond donor). Here we report on the structure of the enolisable chromophore 1-n-butyl-5-(4-nitrophenyl)barbituric acid (1), which has an adjustable hydrogen-bonding pattern. The position of the keto-enol equilibrium of this dye is strongly influenced both by the solvent polarity and by the chemical environment. Furthermore, the recognition properties of the barbiturate were examined by the use of seven artificial receptors: the pyridine bases 2,6-diaminopyridine (DAP), 2,6-diacetamidopyridine (DAC) and 2,6-bis(trifluoroacetamido)pyridine (TFA), as well as the nucleic acid bases 9-ethyladenine (EtAd), 9-ethylguanine (EtGu), 1-n-butylcytosine (BuCy) and 1-n-butylthymine (BuTy). It was found that 1 can interact with these bases either through acid-base interaction or by hydrogen-bonding complexation. The balance between the interactions is dependent both on the basicity strength and on the presence of a suitable recognition sequence in the base. The induced formation of the enol form of 1 thus causes a significant UV/Vis shift as function of the nature of the base.