Structure and vibrational spectra of melaminium bis(trifluoroacetate) trihydrate: FT-IR, FT-Raman and quantum chemical calculations

•Vibrational and DFT studies of melaminium bis(trifluoroacetate) trihydrate were done.•HOMO and LUMO energies, MEP distribution of the molecule were calculated.•UV–Vis analysis was done by TD-DFT method and compared with experimental results.•Thermal stability of the crystal was studied.

Melaminium bis(trifluoroacetate) trihydrate (MTFA), an organic material has been synthesized and single crystals of MTFA have been grown by the slow solvent evaporation method at room temperature. X-ray powder diffraction analysis confirms that MTFA crystal belongs to the monoclinic system with space group P2/c. The molecular geometry, vibrational frequencies and intensity of the vibrational bands have been interpreted with the aid of structure optimization based on density functional theory (DFT) B3LYP method with 6-311G(d,p) and 6-311++G(d,p) basis sets. The X-ray diffraction data have been compared with the data of optimized molecular structure. The theoretical results show that the crystal structure can be reproduced by optimized geometry and the vibrational frequencies show good agreement with the experimental values. The nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) chemical shift of the molecule has been calculated by the gauge independent atomic orbital (GIAO) method and compared with experimental results. HOMO–LUMO, and other related molecular and electronic properties are calculated. The Mulliken and NBO charges have also been calculated and interpreted.

Graphical abstractOptimized structure of MTFA.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide