4-Nitro-6-[(8-quinolyl-amino)-methyl-idene]cyclo-hexa-2,4-dien-1-one.

The mol-ecule of the title compound, C(16)H(11)N(3)O(3), exists in the keto form and the C=O and N-H bonds are mutually cis in the crystal structure. There are two crystallographically independent mol-ecules per asymmetric unit with broadly similar structural data. The only noticeable difference between the two is the dihedral angles between the benzene and the quinoline rings: 1.04†(4) and 3.07†(4)°. In the structure, intra-molecular N-H⋯O(carbon-yl) and N-H⋯N(pyridine) hydrogen bonds exist but there is no evidence of formal inter-molecular hydrogen-bonding associations.