(E)‐Methyl 2‐anilinomethylene‐3‐oxobutanoate: X‐ray and density functional theory studies

Molecules of the title compound, C₁₂H₁₃NO₃, are not planar and are stabilized by electrostatic interactions, as the dipole moment of the molecule is 3.76 D. They are also stabilized by intramolecular hydrogen bonds of N...O and C...O types, and by a complicated network of weak intermolecular hydrogen bonds of the C...O type. This paper also reports the theoretical investigation of the hydrogen bonding and electronic structure of the title compound using natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis.