Structures are reported for two matched sets of substituted 4-styryl­quino­lines which were prepared by the formation of the heterocyclic ring in cyclo­condensation reactions between 1-(2-amino­phen­yl)-3-aryl­prop-2-en-1-ones with 1,3-dicarbonyl com­pounds. (E)-3-Acetyl-4-[2-(4-meth­oxy­phen­yl)ethen­yl]-2-methyl­quino­line, C₂₁H₁₉NO₂, (I), (E)-3-acetyl-4-[2-(4-bromo­phen­yl)ethen­yl]-2-methyl­quino­line, C₂₀H₁₆BrNO, (II), and (E)-3-acetyl-2-methyl-4-{2-[4-(tri­fluoro­meth­yl)phen­yl]ethen­yl}quino­line, C₂₁H₁₆F₃NO, (III), are isomorphous and in each structure the mol­ecules are linked by a single C—H...O hydrogen bond to form C(6) chains. In (I), but not in (II) or (III), this is augmented by a C—H...π(arene) hydrogen bond to form a chain of rings; hence, (I)–(III) are not strictly isostructural. By contrast with (I)–(III), no two of ethyl (E)-4-[2-(4-meth­oxy­phen­yl)ethen­yl]-2-methyl­quino­line-3-carboxyl­ate, C₂₂H₂₁NO₃, (IV), ethyl (E)-4-[2-(4-bromo­phen­yl)ethen­yl]-2-methyl­quino­line-3-carboxyl­ate, C₂₁H₁₈BrNO₂, (V), and ethyl (E)-2-methyl-4-{2-[4-(tri­fluoro­meth­yl)phen­yl]ethen­yl}quino­line-3-carboxyl­ate, C₂₂H₁₈F₃NO₂, (VI), are isomorphous. The mol­ecules of (IV) are linked by a single C—H...O hydrogen bond to form C(13) chains, but cyclic centrosymmetric dimers are formed in both (V) and (VI). The dimer in (V) contains a C—H...π(pyrid­yl) hydrogen bond, while that in (VI) contains two independent C—H...O hydrogen bonds. Comparisons are made with some related structures, and both the regiochemistry and the mechanism of the heterocyclic ring formation are discussed.