Quantum chemical computational studies on 2-methyl-6-[2-(trifluoromethyl)phenyliminomethyl]phenol

Density functional calculations of the structure, molecular electrostatic potential and thermodynamic functions have been performed at B3LYP/6-31G(d) level of theory for the title compound of 2-methyl-6-[2-(trifluoromethyl)phenyliminomethyl]phenol. The energetic behavior of the title compound in solvent media has been examined using B3LYP method with the 6-31G(d) basis set by applying the Onsager and the polarizable continuum model. The results obtained with these methods reveal that the PCM method provided more stable structure than Onsager's method. The predicted non-linear optical properties of the title compound are much greater than ones of urea. The changes of thermodynamic properties from the monomers to title compound with the temperature ranging from 200 K to 400 K have been obtained using the statistical thermodynamic method. At 298.15 K the change of Gibbs free energy for the formation reaction of the title compound is −0.709 kJ/mol. The title compound can be spontaneously produced from the isolated monomers at room temperature. In addition, natural bond orbital and frontier molecular orbital analysis of the title compound were performed using the B3LYP/6-31G(d) method.