Crystal structure of 1,3-dimethyl-3-phenyl­pyrrolidine-2,5-dione: a clinically used anti­convulsant

In the title compound, C₁₂H₁₃NO₂, the five-membered ring has an envelope conformation; the disubstituted C atom lies out of the mean plane through the four other ring atoms (r.m.s. deviation = 0.0038 Å) by 0.1877 (18) Å. The plane of the phenyl substituent is practically perpendicular to that of the planar part of the five-membered ring, with a dihedral angle of 87.01 (5)°. In the crystal, mol­ecules are linked by weak C—H...O hydrogen bonds, forming inversion dimers. The dimers are linked by further C—H...O hydrogen bonds, as well as carbon­yl–carbonyl attractive inter­actions [O...C = 3.2879 (19) Å], forming a three-dimensional framework structure.