The 1:2 co-crystal formed between N,N′-bis(pyridin-4-ylmeth­yl)ethanedi­amide and benzoic acid: crystal structure, Hirshfeld surface analysis and computational study

The crystal and mol­ecular structures of the title 1:2 co-crystal, C(14)H(14)N(4)O(2)·2C(7)H(6)O(2), are described. The oxalamide mol­ecule has a (+)-anti­periplanar conformation with the 4-pyridyl residues lying to either side of the central, almost planar C(2)N(2)O(2) chromophore (r.m.s. deviation = 0.0555 Å). The benzoic acid mol­ecules have equivalent, close to planar conformations [C(6)/CO(2) dihedral angle = 6.33 (14) and 3.43 (10)°]. The formation of hy­droxy-O—H⋯N(pyrid­yl) hydrogen bonds between the benzoic acid mol­ecules and the pyridyl residues of the di­amide leads to a three-mol­ecule aggregate. Centrosymmetrically related aggregates assemble into a six-mol­ecule aggregate via amide-N—H⋯O(amide) hydrogen bonds through a 10-membered {⋯HNC(2)O}(2) synthon. These are linked into a supra­molecular tape via amide-N—H⋯O(carbon­yl) hydrogen bonds and 22-membered {⋯HOCO⋯NC(4)NH}(2) synthons. The contacts between tapes to consolidate the three-dimensional architecture are of the type methyl­ene-C—H⋯O(amide) and pyridyl-C—H⋯O(carbon­yl). These inter­actions are largely electrostatic in nature. Additional non-covalent contacts are identified from an analysis of the calculated Hirshfeld surfaces.