Combined experimental and theoretical studies on the X-ray crystal structure, FT-IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, UV–Vis spectra, NLO behavior and antimicrobial activity of 2-hydroxyacetophenone benzoylhydrazone

•Vibrational spectra of 2-hydroxyacetophenone benzoylhydrazone were analyzed.•Title compound can be a good applicant in the development of NLO materials.•NBO, NMR and UV spectral analysis were carried out.•Frontier molecular orbitals (FMOs) and chemical reactivity were performed.•The experimental results were compared with computed values.

A Schiff base ligand, 2-hydroxyacetophenone benzoylhydrazone (HL) was synthesized and fully characterized with FT-IR, elemental analyses, UV–Vis, 1H NMR and 13C NMR spectra. DFT calculations using B3LYP/6-31+G(d,p) and PW91/DZP are performed to optimize the molecular geometry. Optimized structures are used to calculate FT-IR, UV–Vis, 1H NMR and 13C NMR spectra of the compound. Also the energies of the frontier molecular orbitals (FMOs) have been determined. The results obtained from the optimization and spectral analyses are in good agreement with the experimental data. To investigate non-linear optical properties, the electric dipole moment (μ), polarizability (α) and molecular first hyperpolarizability (β) were computed. The linear polarizabilities and first hyperpolarizabilities of the studied molecule indicate that the compound can be a good candidate of nonlinear optical materials. In addition, the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of this compound against Staphylococcus aureus, and Candida albicans was determined.

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