(E)-1-(4-Nitro­phen­yl)-2-(4-{[(E)-2-(4-nitro­phen­yl)hydrazinyl­idene]meth­yl}benzyl­idene)hydrazine dihydrate

The 30 non-H atoms in title dihydrazine compound, C(20)H(16)N(6)O(4)·2H(2)O, are close to coplanar, the r.m.s. deviation for these atoms being 0.096 Å. The conformation about each of the C=N bonds is E, and the mol­ecule has non-crystallographic 2/m symmetry. The presence of O—H⋯O and N—H⋯O hydrogen bonding leads to a three-dimensional network in the crystal structure. A highly disordered solvent mol­ecule is present within a mol­ecular cavity defined by the organic and water mol­ecules. Its contribution to the electron density was removed from the observed data in the final cycles of refinement and the formula, molecular weight and density are given without taking into account the contribution of the solvent molecule.