Crystal structure and luminescent properties of [1-(biphenyl-4-yl)-1H-imidazole-κN (3)]di­chloridozinc

The mononuclear title compound, [ZnCl(2)(C(15)H(12)N(2))(2)], was synthesized by reaction of zinc chloride and 1-(biphenyl-4-yl)-1H-imidazole (bpi) under hydro­thermal conditions. The Zn(II) atom is tetra­hedrally coordinated by the free imidazole N atoms of two bpi ligands and by two Cl atoms. The bpi ligands are not planar, with dihedral angles of 37.52 (14) and 42.45 (14)° between the phenyl rings and 37.13 (14) and 40.05 (14)° between the phenyl rings and the attached imidazole rings, respectively. Mutual π–π inter­actions, with a centroid-to-centroid distance of 3.751 (2) Å between the phenyl and imidazole rings of neighbouring ligands, are present, leading to dimers that are arranged in rows parallel to [-211].