In the title compound, C16H10N4O, both the methoxy and nitrile substituents lie in the plane defined by the benzo[g]imidazo[1,2-a]-1,8-naphthyridine ring system, resulting in a nearly planar geometry for the entire molecule (r.m.s. deviation of the non-H atoms from the mean plane is 0.044 Å). In the solid-state, the molecules form a three-dimensional polymer through intermolecular C—H...N and C—H...O hydrogen bonds. In addition, the packing mode results in stabilizing π–π stacking interactions between the asymmetric units
