1-Methyl-4,5-dinitro-1H-imidazole

In the title compound, C4H4N4O4, the two nitro groups are twisted with respect to the imidazole plane, making dihedral angles of 24.2 (3) and 33.4 (4)°. In the crystal structure, the molecules are linked through non-classical intermolecular C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds.

In the title compound, C 4 H 4 N 4 O 4 , the two nitro groups are twisted with respect to the imidazole plane, making dihedral angles of 24.2 (3) and 33.4 (4) . In the crystal structure, the molecules are linked through non-classical intermolecular C-HÁ Á ÁO hydrogen bonds.
In the crystal structure, the two nitro groups are twisted with respect to the imidazole plane, making dihedral angles of 24.2 (3)° (N3/O1, O2) and 33.4 (4)° (N4/O3, O4). The molecular packing ( Fig. 2) is stabilized by non-classical intermolecular C-H···O hydrogen bonds; the first between the imidazole H atom and an oxygen of the nitro group, with C1-H1···O i , the second between the methyl H atom and an oxygen of the nitro group, with C4-H4A···O4 ii , respectively (Table 1).

Experimental
The title compound was prepared according to literature method (Damavarapu et al., 2007). Single crystals suitable for X-ray diffraction were obtained by evaporation of a solution of the title compound in methanol at room temperature.

Special details
Geometry. All esds (except the esd in the dihedral angle between two l.s. planes) are estimated using the full covariance matrix. The cell esds are taken into account individually in the estimation of esds in distances, angles and torsion angles; correlations between esds in cell parameters are only used when they are defined by crystal symmetry. An approximate (isotropic) treatment of cell esds is used for estimating esds involving l.s. planes.
Refinement. Refinement of F 2 against ALL reflections. The weighted R-factor wR and goodness of fit S are based on F 2 , conventional R-factors R are based on F, with F set to zero for negative F 2 . The threshold expression of F 2 > 2sigma(F 2 ) is used only for calculating R-factors(gt) etc. and is not relevant to the choice of reflections for refinement. R-factors based on F 2 are statistically about twice as large as those based on F, and R-factors based on ALL data will be even larger.