The title compound, C12H11N3O2, is a second monoclinic polymorph (P21, with Z' = 4) of the previously reported monoclinic (P21/c, with Z' = 2) form [Akhmad Aznan et al. (2010 ▶). Acta Cryst. E66, o2400]. Four independent mol-ecules comprise the asymmetric unit, which have the common features of a syn disposition of the pyridine N atom and the toluene ring, and an intra-molecular amine-nitro N-H⋯O hydrogen bond. The differences between mol-ecules relate to the dihedral angles between the rings which range from 2.92 (19) to 26.24 (19)°. The geometry-optimized structure [B3LYP level of theory and 6-311 g+(d,p) basis set] has the same features except that the entire mol-ecule is planar. In the crystal, the three-dimensional architecture is consolidated by a combination of C-H⋯O, C-H⋯π, nitro-N-O⋯π and π-π inter-actions [inter-centroid distances = 3.649 (2)-3.916 (2) Å].
The 1:1 co-crystallization of 1,4-di-aza-bicyclo-[2.2.2]octane (DABCO) with 4-nitro-benzoic acid in ethanol-water (3/1) gave the salt dihydrate C6H13N2 (+)·C7H4NO4 (-)·2H2O, (1), whereas from methanol, the salt C6H14N2 (2+)·2C7H4NO4 (-), (2), was isolated. In (1), the cation and anion are linked by a strong N-H⋯O hydrogen bond, and the carboxyl-ate anion is close to planar [dihedral angle between terminal residues = 6.83 (9)°]. In (2), a three-ion aggregate is assembled by two N-H⋯O hydrogen bonds, and the carboxyl-ate anions are again close to planar [dihedral angles between terminal residues = 1.7 (3) and 5.9 (3)°]. Through the inter-vention of solvent water mol-ecules, which self-assemble into helical supra-molecular chains along the b axis, the three-dimensional architecture in (1) is stabilized by water-DABCO O-H⋯N and water-carboxyl-ate O-H⋯O hydrogen bonds, with additional stability afforded by C-H⋯O inter-actions. The global crystal structure comprises alternating layers of water mol-ecules and ion pairs stacked along the c axis. In the crystal of (2), the three-ion aggregates are assembled into a three-dimensional architecture by a large number of methyl-ene-carboxyl-ate/nitro C-H⋯O inter-actions as well as π-π contacts between inversion-related benzene rings [inter-centroid distances = 3.5644 (16) and 3.6527 (16) Å]. The cations and anions assemble into alternating layers along the c axis.