N,N-dimethyl-N'-[(1E,2E)-3-(4-nitrophenyl)prop-2-enylidene]benzene-1,4-diamine and N,N-dimethyl-4-[(1E,3E)-4-(4-nitrophenyl)buta-1,3-dienyl]-1-naphthylamine.

Syntheses and X-ray structural investigations have been carried out for the two title compounds, viz. C(17)H(17)N(3)O(2), (I), and C(22)H(20)N(2)O(2), (II). The molecular skeleton of (I) is slightly non-planar; the dihedral angles between the conjugated linkage and the p-(dimethylamino)phenyl ring, and between the linkage and the p-nitrophenyl ring are 13.