Ethyl (E)-3-(anthracen-9-yl)prop-2-enoate

In the asymmetric unit of the title compound, C₁₉H₁₆O₂, there are two symmetry-independent mol­ecules (A and B) that differ in the conformation of the ester eth­oxy group. In the crystal, the mol­ecules form inversion dimers via pairs of C—H...O inter­actions. Within the dimers, the anthracenyl units have inter­planar distances of 0.528 (2) and 0.479 (2) Å for dimers of mol­ecules A and B, respectively. Another short C—H...O contact between symmetry-independent dimers links them into columns parallel to [10-1]. These columns are arranged into (111) layers and there are π–π stacking inter­actions [centroid–centroid distances = 3.6446 (15) and 3.6531 (15) Å] between the anthracenyl units from the neighbouring columns. In addition, there are C—H...π inter­actions between the anthracenyl unit of dimers A and dimers B within the same column.