Crystal growth, structural investigation and characterization of newly grown quinolinium derivative single crystal: 1-Ethyl-2-(2-p-tolyl-vinyl)-quinolinium; iodide

• The PTQI material was synthesized and crystallized for NLO applications.
• FTIR and NMR assignments confirmed the functional groups of PTQI crystal.
• The crystal has good transparency from 472 to 1100 nm and its band gap energy 2.26 eV.
• TG/DTA studies reveal that PTQI is stable up to 244.3 °C and the melting temperature is 248.5 °C.
• The value of NLA (10−5 m/W) and NLRI (10−11 m2/W) were calculated using Z-scan technique.

A new N-ethyl quinolinium derivative of 1-Ethyl-2-(2-p-tolyl-vinyl)-quinoliniumiodide (PTQI) was synthesized by knoevenagel condensation reaction and single crystal was successfully grown by slow evaporation technique. The grown crystal exhibit a centric monoclinic space group P21/C with a third order nonlinear optical response in their crystalline form. The molecular structure of the crystal was studied by single crystal XRD and NMR spectral analysis. FTIR reveal the existence of vinyl group and functional groups of the grown crystal. The melting point and thermal behaviour of PTQI were investigated using TG/DTA analysis. The linear optical study was done by UV–vis–NIR analysis show that the crystal is transparent in the wavelength range of 472–1100 nm. Photoluminescence study shows that PTQI crystal has green luminescence emission property. The etching study reveals that the title crystal encompasses good crystalline nature and lesser amount of dislocations. Third order nonlinear optical property was determined by Z scan technique and the results making grown crystal as a promising material in the field of nonlinear optical devices.