2,2′-(2,6-Pyridinedi­yl)diquinoline

The title mol-ecule, C(23)H(15)N(3), is a terpyridine derivative resulting from the Friedländer annulation between 2,6-diacetyl-pyridine and N,N'-bis-(2-amino-benz-yl)ethyl-ene-di-amine. The asymmetric unit contains one half-mol-ecule, the complete mol-ecule being generated by a mirror plane (one N atom and one C atom lie on the plane). The mol-ecule, although aromatic, is deformed from planarity as a result of crystal packing forces: mol-ecules are stacked along the short c axis, with a short separation of 3.605 (1) Å between the mean planes. The bent mol-ecular shape is reflected in the dihedral angle of 16.10 (5)° between the essentially planar quinoline groups. In addition to π⋯π inter-actions, the crystal structure features weak inter-stack C-H⋯N contacts involving atoms of the central pyridine rings which lie in a common crystallographic m plane.