Crystal structure and Hirshfeld surface analysis of 2-oxo-2-phenylethyl 3-nitroso-2-phenylimidazo[1,2-a]pyridine-8-carboxylate

The title compound, C₂₂H₁₅N₃O₄, is built up from a central imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine ring system connected to a nitroso group, a phenyl ring and a 2-oxo-2-phenylethyl acetate group. The imidazo[1,2-a] pyridine ring system is almost planar (r.m.s. deviation = 0.017 Å) and forms dihedral angles of 22.74 (5) and 45.37 (5)°, respectively, with the phenyl ring and the 2-oxo-2-phenylethyl acetate group. In the crystal, the molecules are linked into chains parallel to the b axis by C—H...O hydrogen bonds, generating R ₂ ¹ (5) and R ₄ ⁴ (28) graph-set motifs. The chains are further linked into a three-dimensional network by C—H...π and π-stacking interactions. The intermolecular interactions were investigated using Hirshfeld surface analysis and two-dimensional fingerprint plots, revealing that the most important contributions for the crystal packing are from H...H (36.2%), H...C/C...H (20.5%), H...O/O...H (20.0%), C...O/O...C (6.5%), C...N/N...C (6.2%), H...N/N...H (4.5%) and C...C (4.3%) interactions.