(1E,2E)-1,2-Bis[(1-benzyloxymethyl-1H-indol-3-yl)methylidene]hydrazine

The title compound, C(34)H(30)N(4)O(2), lies on an inversion center and consists of two 3-substituted-1H-indole units linked by a 1,2-dimethyl-enehydrazine bridge. It is one of numerous examples in which two aromatic ring systems are joined by this 4-atom bridge. The geometry of the centrosymmetric bridge is: C(arom)-C = 1.444 (3), C=N = 1.284 (3), N-N = 1.414 (4) Å, C(arom)-C=N = 122.6 (2) and C=N-N = 111.9 (2)°. The nine non-H atoms of the indole unit lie in a plane (δ(r.m.s.) = 0.0089 Å) which is twisted 6.0 (2)° with respect to the hydrazine bridge plane. The benzyl-oxymethyl substituents do not lie in the plane of the rest of the mol-ecule and are in a folded rather than an extended conformation. This is described by the three torsion angles in the middle of the C=N-C-O-C(Bz) group, viz. 98.5 (3), -62.1 (3), and -66.3 (2)°.