For a nilpotent group $G$, let $\Xi(G)$ be the difference between the complement of the generating graph of $G$ and the commuting graph of $G$, with vertices corresponding to central elements of $G$ removed. That is, $\Xi(G)$ has vertex set $G \setminus Z(G)$, with two vertices adjacent if and only if they do not commute and do not generate $G$. Additionally, let $\Xi^+(G)$ be the subgraph of $\Xi(G)$ induced by its non-isolated vertices. We show that if $\Xi(G)$ has an edge, then $\Xi^+(G)$ is connected with diameter $2$ or $3$, with $\Xi(G) = \Xi^+(G)$ in the diameter $3$ case. In the infinite case, our results apply more generally, to any group with every maximal subgroup normal. When $G$ is finite, we explore the relationship between the structures of $G$ and $\Xi(G)$ in more detail.

Let G be a non-abelian finite simple group. In addition, let $$\Delta _G$$ Δ G be the intersection graph of G, whose vertices are the proper non-trivial subgroups of G, with distinct subgroups joined by an edge if and only if they intersect non-trivially. We prove that the diameter of $$\Delta _G$$ Δ G has a tight upper bound of 5, thereby resolving a question posed by Shen (Czechoslov Math J 60(4):945–950, 2010). Furthermore, a diameter of 5 is achieved only by the baby monster group and certain unitary groups of odd prime dimension.

We say that a finite group [Formula: see text] satisfies the independence property if, for every pair of distinct elements [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] of [Formula: see text], either [Formula: see text] is contained in a minimal generating set for [Formula: see text] or one of [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] is a power of the other. We give a complete classification of the finite groups with this property, and in particular prove that every such group is supersoluble. A key ingredient of our proof is a theorem showing that all but three finite almost simple groups [Formula: see text] contain an element [Formula: see text] such that the maximal subgroups of [Formula: see text] containing [Formula: see text], but not containing the socle of [Formula: see text], are pairwise non-conjugate.

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