5-phenyl-3,4-dihydro-2H-pyrrole: the first example of a planar monosubstituted 1-pyrroline.

In the title compound, C10H11N, the molecules assemble as pseudo-dimers through pi-pi interactions, each dimer being rotated by about 90 degrees with respect to its neighbours. The relative positioning of the dimers and C-H...pi interactions give, when seen along a, a supramolecular zigzag arrangement. The compound contains a planar pyrroline ring and, as a whole, its molecular conformation is also planar, which represents the first example of a totally planar 2-substituted 1-pyrroline and the simplest ever reported by X-ray diffraction.