(2E)-3-(4-Methyl­phen­yl)-1-(3-nitro­phen­yl)prop-2-en-1-one

The title compound, C(16)H(13)NO(3), crystallizes with two independent mol­ecules (A and B) in the asymmetric unit. The dihedral angle between the mean planes of the 4-methyl­phenyl and 3-nitro­phenyl groups is 4.0 (3)° in mol­ecule A and 16.2 (7)° in mol­ecule B. Inter­molecular C—H⋯O hydrogen bonding involving the O atoms of the 3-nitro­phenyl group of both independent mol­ecules link the mol­ecules into layers approximately parallel to the (110) plane. The layers are held together by π–π stacking inter­actions between the 4-methyl­phenyl ring of mol­ecule A and the 3-nitro­phenyl ring of mol­ecule B of the adjacent layer, with the distance between the centroids of inter­acting rings being 3.6987 (7) Å.