Crystal structure determination as part of an undergraduate laboratory experiment: 1',3',3'-tri-methyl-spiro-[chromene-2,2'-indoline] and 1',3',3'-trimethyl-4-[(E)-(1,3,3-tri-methyl-indolin-2-yl-idene)meth-yl]spiro-[chroman-2,2'-indoline].

The crystal structures of the title compounds, C19H19NO and C31H34N2O, were determined as part of an experiment in an undergraduate teaching laboratory that demonstrates the relationship between mol-ecular structure and function. 1',3',3'-Tri-methyl-spiro-[chromene-2,2'-indoline] is both a photoswitch and thermochromic mol-ecule. Students synthesized it and a bis-indoline adduct and compared the crystallographically determined structures to computed gas-phase models.