Growth, characterization and structural investigation of a novel nonlinear optical crystal

A new potentially useful nonlinear optical (NLO) organic material, 1-(5-bromothiophen-2-yl)-3-(4-nitrophenyl)prop-2-en-1-one (BTNP), has been synthesized and grown as a high-quality single crystal by the slow evaporation technique. The grown crystals were chemically characterized by FT-IR and NMR studies. The grown crystal has been subjected to single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies and cell parameters of the crystal were determined. The title compound crystallizes in triclinic system with a noncentrosymmetric space group P1, with unit cell parameters a = 4.8093(4) Å, b = 5.9428(6) Å, c = 11.5153(11) Å, α = 94.999(4), β = 95.780(3), γ = 96.396(4) and V = 323.79(5) Å3. The thermal stability of the crystal was determined from DSC curve. The grown crystals were characterized for their optical transmission and mechanical hardness. The second harmonic generation (SHG) efficiency of the crystals was obtained by powder technique using Nd:YAG laser and is found to be four times that of urea.

► Reported the synthesis and characterization of chalcone, BTNP for NLO applications.
► Scanning electron microscope images confirm step-like growth of the crystal.
► The SHG efficiency of the BTNP found as 4 times that of urea crystals of identical particle size.
► The presence sulfur and bromine atoms in thiophene ring helps in developing good quality single crystals.