The structures of the inclusion compounds formed by the host 9,9’-(ethyne-1,2-diyl)bis(fluoren-9-01) with pyridine and picolines are similar and display tubular topology. The host discriminates poorly between these guests. The kinetics of desorption of the pyridine compound is governed by the Avrami-Erofe’ev equation A2, with an activation energy of 111(7) kJ mol−1.