Crystal structures of 2,6-di­bromo-4-methyl­benzo­nitrile and 2,6-di­bromo-4-methyl­phenyl isocyanide

In the title crystals, C(8)H(5)Br(2)N, which are isomorphous, the steric bulk of the methyl group causes neighboring mol­ecules to become mutually inclined. This prevents the formation of planar or nearly planar sheets, which were observed in the tri­chloro and tri­bromo analogs. Instead of CN/NC⋯Br contacts, tetra­meric Br⋯Br contacts are observed. These contacts form tetra­gonally puckered sheets parallel to (001). The CN/NC and methyl groups are grouped at the peaks and troughs. Both mol­ecules lie across crystallographic mirror planes; thus, the methyl H atoms are disordered over two sets of sites with equal occupancy. The title nitrile is a redetermination. The refinement converged at R[F (2) > 2σ(F (2))] = 0.020, whereas the original determination [Gleason & Britton, (1976 ▸). Cryst. Struct. Commun. 5, 229–232] had R = 0.112.