Electronic structure and absorption spectra of 6-picoline Schiff base: A DFT and XRD based approach

• A novel 6-picoline Schiff base has been synthesized and characterized.
• The compound has been optimized by using density functional theory.
• Role of frontier molecular orbitals in charge transfer properties is highlighted.
• The solvent polarity effect was studied on the absorption wavelengths.

The spectroscopic and molecular structure of 2-{(E)-[(6-methylpyridin-2-yl)imino]methyl}phenol (MPMP) has been characterized by FT-IR, UV–Vis and X-ray diffraction. The ground state geometry of MPMP has been optimized by using density functional theory at DFT/B3LYP/6-31G** and DFT/B3LYP/6-31 + G* level of theories. The DFT/B3LYP/6-31 + G* level of theory is good to reproduce the geometrical parameters. We shed light on the frontier molecular orbitals; highest occupied molecular orbitals (HOMOs) and lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals (LUMOs) which play important role in charge transfer properties. The absorption spectrum was calculated by using time dependent density functional theory at TD-B3LYP/6-31 + G* level of theory. The absorption wavelengths were computed in different solvents by using polarizable continuum model (PCM). The solvent polarity effect was studied on the absorption wavelengths. The structure–property relationship has been discussed intensively.