Syntheses, crystal structure, Hirshfeld surfaces, fluorescence properties, and DFT analysis of benzoic acid hydrazone Schiff bases

•Benzoic acid hydrazone Schiff bases have been synthesized and characterized by physical, spectral and analytical data.•Intermolecular interactions in the crystal packing have been studied using Hirshfeld surface analyses.•Vibrational frequencies, molecular electrostatic potential map, frontier molecular orbitals have been studied.•The fluorescence properties with varying solvent polarities were explained using the results of DFT analyses.

Two hydrazone Schiff base analogues, namely, (E)-N′-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzylidene)benzohydrazide (3a) and (E)-N′-(4-methoxybenzylidene)benzohydrazide (3b), were synthesized using a mild, efficient method and characterized by 1H NMR, mass spectrometry, elemental analysis, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. X-ray analysis of a single crystal of 3a revealed a tetragonal, space group I4(1)/a structure, with an E-configuration around the azomethine (C8N2) double bond. In this structure, the NH and OH groups act as proton donors and the >CO and N groups as proton acceptors, and these facilitate hydrogen bond formation in the crystal state. Plausible intermolecular interactions were studied using 3D Hirshfeld surfaces and related 2D fingerprint plots. The optimized geometry, vibrational frequencies, Mulliken charge distribution, molecular electrostatic potential (MEP) maps, frontier molecular orbitals (FMOs), and associated energies of the ground state and the first single excited state were calculated using density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependant DFT calculations using the B3LYP/6-311G method. Vibrational frequencies calculated in the gaseous phase compared with experimental values measured in the solid state and showed good agreement with each other. The chemical reactivities of 3a and 3b were predicted by mapping MEP surface over optimized geometries and comparing these with MEP map generated over crystal structures. Mulliken charge distribution analysis and MEP map of 3a and 3b revealed that N(1), O(1), O(2) and O(3) atoms could act as electron donors and coordinate with metals and that these represented the most suitable sites for electrophilic attack. In fluorescence spectra, the absorption and emission spectra of 3a and 3b were similar in different polar solvents with few exceptions. In addition, both compounds exhibited dual emission spectra in acetone due to keto-enol tautomerism induced by photoexcitation.

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