4,4'-[Thiophene-2,5-diylbis(ethyne-2,1-diyl)]dibenzonitrile

In the solid state, the title compound, C22H10N2S, forms centrosymmetric dimers by pairs of non-classical C-H...S hydrogen bonds linking approximately coplanar mol­ecules. The benzene ring involved in this inter­action makes a dihedral angle of only 7.21 (16)° with the thio­phene ring, while the other benzene ring is twisted somewhat out of the plane, with a dihedral angle of 39.58 (9)°. The hydrogen-bonded dimers stack on top of each other with an inter­planar spacing of 3.44 Å. C-H...N hydrogen bonds link together stacks that run in approximately perpendicular directions. Each mol­ecule thus inter­acts with 12 adjacent mol­ecules, five of them approaching closer than the sum of the van der Waals radii for the relevant atoms. Optimization of the inter-stack contacts contributes to the non-planarity of the mol­ecule.