Crystal structure and Hirshfeld surface analysis of 8-aza­niumylquinolinium tetra­chlorido­zincate(II)

The reaction of 8-amino­quinoline, zinc chloride and hydro­chloric acid in ethanol yielded the title salt, (C(9)H(10)N(2))[ZnCl(4)], which consists of a planar 8-aza­n­ium­yl­quinolinium dication and a tetra­hedral tetra­chloro­zincate dianion. The 8-amino­quinoline moiety is protonated at both the amino and the ring N atoms. In the crystal, the cations and anions are connected by inter­molecular N—H⋯Cl and C—H⋯Cl hydrogen bonds, forming sheets parallel to (001). Adjacent sheets are linked through π–π inter­actions involving the pyridine and arene rings of the 8-aza­niumylquinolinium dication. Hirshfeld surface analysis indicates that the most important contributions to the crystal packing are from H⋯Cl (48.1%), H⋯H (19.9%), H⋯C/C⋯H (14.3%) (involving the cations) and H⋯Cl (82.6%) (involving the anions) interactions.