Hydrogen-bonded sheets in (E)-2-nitrobenzaldehyde 4-nitrophenylhydrazone and a hydrogen-bonded framework structure in (E)-4-nitrobenzaldehyde 4-nitrophenylhydrazone.

Molecules of (E)-2-nitrobenzaldehyde 4-nitrophenylhydrazone, C13H10N4O4, exhibit a strongly polarized molecular-electronic structure. The molecules are linked into sheets of some complexity, where pairs of hydrogen bonds act co-operatively to generate two independent substructures, each in the form of a chain of rings. In the isomeric compound (E)-4-nitrobenzaldehyde 4-nitrophenylhydrazone, the molecules exhibit orientational disorder; an extensive series of hydrogen bonds links the molecules into a continuous three-dimensional framework, whose formation is independent of the disorder.