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

The asymmetric unit of the title 1:2 co-crystal, C(14)H(14)N(4)O(2)·2C(7)H(5)ClO(2), comprises two half mol­ecules of oxalamide ((4) LH(2)), as each is disposed about a centre of inversion, and two mol­ecules of 4-chloro­benzoic acid (CBA), each in general positions. Each (4) LH(2) mol­ecule has a (+)anti­periplanar conformation with the pyridin-4-yl residues lying to either side of the central, planar C(2)N(2)O(2) chromophore with the dihedral angles between the respective central core and the pyridyl rings being 68.65 (3) and 86.25 (3)°, respectively, representing the major difference between the independent (4) LH(2) mol­ecules. The anti conformation of the carbonyl groups enables the formation of intra­molecular amide-N—H⋯O(amide) hydrogen bonds, each completing an S(5) loop. The two independent CBA mol­ecules are similar and exhibit C(6)/CO(2) dihedral angles of 8.06 (10) and 17.24 (8)°, indicating twisted conformations. In the crystal, two independent, three-mol­ecule aggregates are formed via carb­oxy­lic acid-O—H⋯N(pyrid­yl) hydrogen bonding. These are connected into a supra­molecular tape propagating parallel to [100] through amide-N—H⋯O(amide) hydrogen bonding between the independent aggregates and ten-membered {⋯HNC(2)O}(2) synthons. The tapes assemble into a three-dimensional architecture through pyridyl- and methyl­ene-C—H⋯O(carbon­yl) and CBA-C—H⋯O(amide) inter­actions. As revealed by a more detailed analysis of the mol­ecular packing by calculating the Hirshfeld surfaces and computational chemistry, are the presence of attractive and dispersive Cl⋯C=O inter­actions which provide inter­action energies approximately one-quarter of those provided by the amide-N—H⋯O(amide) hydrogen bonding sustaining the supra­molecular tape.