In the title compound, C(10)H(6)N(4)O(4)S(2), (I), the molecule has a centre of inversion. The structure is a positional isomer of 5,5'-dinitro-2,2'-dithiodipyridine [Brito, Mundaca, Cárdenas, López-Rodríguez & Vargas (2007). Acta Cryst. E63, o3351-o3352], (II). The 3-nitropyridine fragment of (I) shows excellent agreement with the bonding geometries of (II). The most obvious differences between them are in the S-S bond length [2.1167 (12) A in (I) and 2.0719 (11) A in (II)], and in the C-C(ipso)-N(ring) [119.8 (2) degrees in (I) and 123.9 (3) degrees in (II)] and S-C-C [122.62 (18) degrees in (I) and 116.0 (2) degrees in (II)] angles. The crystal structure of (I) has an intramolecular C-H...O interaction, with an H...O distance of 2.40 (3) A, whereas this kind of interaction is not evident in (II). The molecules of (I) are linked into centrosymmetric R(4)(4)(30) motifs by a C-H...O interaction. There are no aromatic pi-pi stacking and no C-H...pi(arene) interactions. Compound (I) can be used as a nucleophilic tecton in self-assembly reactions with metal centres of varying lability.