Structural (at 100 K) and DFT studies of 2'-nitro-flavone

The geometry of the title mol-ecule [systematic name: 2-(2-nitro-phen-yl)-4H-chromen-4-one], C₁₅H₉NO₄, is determined by two dihedral angles formed by the mean plane of phenyl ring with the mean planes of chromone moiety and nitro group, being 50.73 (5) and 30.89 (7)°, respectively. The crystal packing is determined by π-π inter-actions and C-H⋯O contacts. The results of DFT calculations at the B3LYP/6-31G* level of theory provided an explanation of the unusually large dihedral angle between the chromone moiety and the phenyl group. The electrostatic potential map on the mol-ecular surface was calculated in order to determine the potential binding sites to receptors.