2,2'-(Ethane-1,2-di-yl)bis-[3-(pyridin-2-yl)imidazo[1,5-a]pyridin-2-ium] dichloride hexa-hydrate.

The title compound, C26H22N6 2+·2Cl-·6H2O, crystallizes in the monoclinic space group P21/n with one mol-ecule in the asymmetric unit. Structure determination at 150 K from a two-component twin crystal reveals the non-symmetrical n-shaped dication, where two pyridine-imidazole fused cores bearing pendant pyridyl rings are linked by an ethyl-ene bridge. The fused five- and six-membered rings are almost coplanar with the largest deviation from the mean plane being 0.019 Å for a nitro-gen atom of one of the rings. The pendant pyridyl groups are twisted by 42.14 (11) and 46.47 (11)° with respect to the planes of the adjacent imidazo[1,5-a]pyridinium cores. In the crystal, the dications stacked along the b-axis direction are linked by π-π inter-actions that possibly stabilize the n-type structure in the solid state. The chloride anions and water mol-ecules form R 2 4(8), R 5 5(12), R 6 6(12) and R 8 11(22) ring motifs through O-H⋯O/Cl hydrogen bonds, building corrugated layers that run between columns of the stacked organic dications.