Growth, thermal and optical properties of cis-2,6-diphenyl-3-isopropylpiperidin-4-one – A new class of organic NLO material

A new class of organic nonlinear optical crystalline material, cis-2,6-diphenyl-3-isopropylpiperidine-4-one (3IPO), was prepared. The single crystals of the title material with good optical quality have been grown from its benzene solution by slow evaporation solution growth technique at ambient temperature. Vickers micro hardness measurement studies showed that the crystal belongs to a softer material category. The grown crystals were characterized through the spectroscopic techniques such as PXRD, UV–visible, FTIR and 1H NMR spectra. The powder XRD reveals the structure of the crystal to be monoclinic system. The UV–visible spectrum was recorded to find the suitability of the title crystal for optical applications. FTIR & 1H NMR spectra were recorded to confirm the presence of various functional groups and the molecular structure, respectively. The thermal stability of the crystal was established by TGA/DTA analysis. The second harmonic generation (SHG) in the crystal was confirmed using the modified Kurtz–Perry powder test employing Nd:YAG laser as the source of IR radiation and the SHG efficiency was found to be closer that of standard KDP.