Ethyl 1-(2-hy­droxy­eth­yl)-2-p-tolyl-1H-benzimidazole-5-carboxyl­ate

The asymmetric unit of the title compound, C(19)H(20)N(2)O(3), contains two mol­ecules (A and B) with slightly different orientations of the ethyl groups with respect to the attached carboxyl­ate groups. Intra­molecular C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds generate S(8) ring motifs in both mol­ecules A and B. In each mol­ecule, the benzimidazole ring system is essentially planar, with maximum deviations of 0.023 (1) and 0.020 (1) Å, respectively, for mol­ecules A and B. The dihedral angle between the benzimidazole ring system and the phenyl ring is 37.34 (5)° for mol­ecule A and 42.42 (5)° for mol­ecule B. In the crystal, O—H⋯N and C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds link the mol­ecules into [100] columns with a cross-section of two-mol­ecule by two-mol­ecule wide, and further stabilization is provided by weak C—H⋯π and π–π inter­actions [centroid separations = 3.5207 (7) and 3.6314 (8) Å].