Ethyl 2-[(2,6-dimethyl­phen­yl)hydrazono]-3-oxobutanoate

The title compound, C(14)H(18)N(2)O(3), crystallizes with two independent mol­ecules in the asymmetric unit, having closely comparable geometries. Both mol­ecules are essentially planar [maximum deviations from the mean plane of 0.069 (1) and 0.068 (1) Å for the two mol­ecules] and contain an intra­molecular N—H⋯O hydrogen bond which generates a ring with graph-set motif S(6). In the crystal, the mol­ecules are linked into chains along the c axis by inter­molecular C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds, and inter­molecular C—H⋯π inter­actions are also present.