Crystal growth, vibrational, optical, thermal and theoretical studies of a nonlinear optical material: 2-Methyl 3,5-dinitrobenzoic acid

Single crystals of 2-methyl 3,5-dinitro benzoic acid with reasonable size have been grown by slow evaporation solution growth method using ethanol as solvent. Quantum chemical calculation of 2-methyl 3,5-Dinitro benzoic acid was carried out by using DFT/B3LYP/6-31+G(d,p) method. The powder X-ray diffraction pattern was recorded and indexed. Both the experimental and theoretical vibrational spectrum validates the presence of functional groups. Polarizability, first order hyperpolarizability and the electric dipole moment values have been computed theoretically. The 1H and 13C NMR chemical shift of the molecule was calculated and compared with experimental results. TG/DSC analysis has been employed to understand the thermal and physio-chemical stability of the title compound. Frequency conversion property of the crystal was tested by Kurtz and Perry method. Optical absorption behavior of the grown crystal was examined by recording the optical spectrum and band gap energy was also estimated. The calculated HOMO and LUMO energy shows the charge transfer nature of the molecule.