1,3-Dimethyl-2-oxo-4,6-diphenyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydropyridine-3-carbonitrile.

The crystal structure of the title compound, C(20)H(18)N(2)O, reveals a distorted half-chair conformation of the central tetrahydropyridine (THP) ring, with the cyano- and adjacent phenyl-substituted C atoms displaced by 0.329 (1) and -0.315 (1) A, respectively, from the THP best plane. Steric interactions force the phenyl rings out of the THP plane by 49.21 (9) and 65.76 (5). The cyano moiety is coplanar with the THP plane.