Crystal structure of (E)-1-(4′-meth­oxy-[1,1′-biphen­yl]-4-yl)-3-(3-nitro­phen­yl)prop-2-en-1-one

The title compound, C(22)H(17)NO(4), crystallizes with two independent mol­ecules (A and B) in the asymmetric unit. Each mol­ecule exists as an E isomer with C—C=C—C torsion angles of −175.69 (17) and −178.41 (17)° in A and B, respectively. In mol­ecule A, the planes of the terminal benzene rings are twisted by an angle of 26.67 (10)°, while the biphenyl unit is non-planar, the dihedral angle between the rings being 30.81 (10)°. The dihedral angle between the nitro­phenyl ring and the inner phenyl ring is 6.50 (9)°. The corresponding values in mol­ecule B are 60.61 (9), 31.07 (8) and 31.05 (9)°. In the crystal, mol­ecules are arranged in a head-to-head manner, with the 3-nitro­phenyl groups nearly parallel to one another. The A and B mol­ecules are linked to one another via C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds, forming chains lying parallel to (-320) and enclosing R (2) (2)(10) and R (2) (2)(12) ring motifs. The meth­oxy group in both mol­ecules is positionally disordered with a refined occupancy ratio of 0.979 (4):0.021 (4) for mol­ecule A and 0.55 (4):0.45 (4) for mol­ecule B.