A new polymorph of 2,6-dimeth­oxy­benzoic acid

A new crystalline form of 2,6-dimeth­oxy­benzoic acid, C(9)H(10)O(4), crystallizing in a tetra­gonal unit cell has been identified during screening for co-crystals. The asymmetric unit comprises a non-planar independent mol­ecule with a synplanar conformation of the carb­oxy group. The sterically bulky o-meth­oxy substituents force the carb­oxy group to be twisted away from the plane of the benzene ring by 65.72 (15)°. The carb­oxy group is disordered over two sites about the C—C bond [as indicated by the almost equal C—O distances of 1.254 (3) and 1.250 (3) Å], the occupancies of the disordered carboxym H atoms being 0.53 (5) and 0.47 (5). In the known ortho­rhom­bic form reported by Swaminathan et al. [Acta Cryst. (1976), B32, 1897–1900], due to the anti­planar conformation adopted by the OH group, the mol­ecular components are associated in the crystal in chains stabilized by linear O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds. However, in the new tetra­gonal polymorph, mol­ecules form dimeric units via pairs of O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds between the carb­oxy groups.