Bis[4-(diphenyl-methyl-eneamino)phen-yl]methanone.

The title mol-ecule, C(39)H(28)N(2)O, is a well known dendron used in the synthesis of phenyl-azomethine dendrimers. The central benzophenone core is twisted, as expected, due to hindrance between H atoms: the dihedral angle between core benzene rings is 54.49 (5)°, identical to that of the stable polymorph of benzophenone (56°). For the same reason, phenyl groups substituting imine C atoms make a large dihedral angle, although similar for each imine: 71.83 (6) and 67.64 (5)°. The six aromatic rings in the mol-ecule thus seem to be quite randomly oriented, and such an arrangement is not favorable for efficient stacking inter-actions in the crystal. The same behaviour is observed in the vast majority of diphenyl-imino-containing organics. The low triclinic crystal symmetry may be a consequence of these features.