ap-9-(meta-tert-Butyl­phenyl)­fluorene

The title compound, C₂₃H₂₂, (I), crystallizes in an ap conformation and its melt readily recrystallizes on cooling, in contrast to the corresponding 9-fluorenol compound, (II), which is sp and which melts without decomposition and fails to recrystallize over a long period. Both of these differences are ascribed to the intermolecular hydrogen bonding in (II), which is absent in (I) and which leads to distinctly different molecular packing in the two compounds.