Ethyl 1H-indole-2-carboxyl­ate

Our work in the area of synthesis of tris indole compounds as a potential chelator led to the synthesis and crystallization of ethyl 1H-indole-2-carboxyl­ate, C(11)H(11)NO(2), an indole that was synthesized by the thionyl chloride reaction of 1H-indole-2-carb­oxy­lic acid, followed by dissolution in ethanol. The mol­ecular packing exhibits a herringbone pattern with the zigzag running along the b-axis direction; the compound crystallizes as a hydrogen-bonded dimer resulting from O⋯H—N hydrogen bonds, between the indole N—H group and the keto oxygen atom, which build centrosymmetric R (2) (2)(10) ring motifs in the crystal. [Image: see text]