Crystal structure of (E)-1,3-dimethyl-2-[3-(3-nitro-phen-yl)triaz-2-en-1-yl-idene]-2,3-di-hydro-1H-imidazole.

The title compound, C11H12N6O2, a π-conjugated triazene, crystallized with two independent mol-ecules (A and B) in the asymmetric unit. Both mol-ecules have an E conformation about the -N=N- bond and have slightly twisted overall conformations. In mol-ecule A, the imidazole ring is inclined to the benzene ring by 8.12 (4)°, while in mol-ecule B the two rings are inclined to one another by 7.73 (4)°. In the crystal, the independent mol-ecules are linked to each other by C-H⋯O hydrogen bonds, forming -A-A-A- and -B-B-B- chains along [100]. The chains are linked by C-H⋯O and C-H⋯N hydrogen bonds, forming sheets lying parallel to (001). The sheets are linked by further C-H⋯N hydrogen bonds and π-π inter-actions [centroid-centroid distance = 3.5243 (5) Å; involving the imidazole ring of mol-ecule A and the benzene ring of mol-ecule B], forming a three-dimensional framework structure.