4-(4-Methoxyphenyl)-2-oxo-1,2,5,6-tetrahydrobenzo[<i>h</i>]quinoline-3-carbonitrile

In the mol-ecule of the title compound, C(21)H(16)N(2)O(2), the tetra-hydro-benzo[h]quinoline fused-ring system is buckled owing to the ethyl-ene -CH(2)CH(2)- fragment, the benzene ring and the pyridine ring being twisted by 19.7 (1)°. The 4-substituted aromatic ring is bent away from the pyridine ring by 50.3 (1)° in order to avoid crowding the cyanide substituent. In the crystal, two mol-ecules are linked by a pair of N-H⋯O hydrogen bonds to form a centrosymmetric dimer.