Molecular structure, spectroscopic studies and first-order molecular hyperpolarizabilities of p-amino acetanilide

The infrared absorption, Raman spectra and SERS spectra of p-amino acetanilide have been analyzed with the aid of density functional theory calculations at B3LYP/6-311G(d,p) level. The electric dipole moment (μ) and the first hyperpolarizability (β) values of the investigated molecule have been computed using ab initio quantum mechanical calculations. The calculation results also show that the synthesized molecule might have microscopic nonlinear optical (NLO) behavior with non-zero values. Computed geometries reveal that the PAA molecule is planar, while secondary amide group is twisted with respect to the phenyl ring is found, upon hydrogen bonding. The hyperconjugation of the CO group with adjacent C–C bond and donor–acceptor interaction associated with the secondary amide have been investigated using computed geometry. The carbonyl stretching band position is found to be influenced by the tendency of phenyl ring to withdraw nitrogen lone pair, intermolecular hydrogen bonding, conjugation and hyperconjugation. The existence of intramolecular CO⋯H hydrogen bonded have been investigated by means of the natural bonding orbital (NBO) analysis. The influence of the decrease of N–H and CO bond orders and increase of C–N bond orders due to donor–acceptor interaction has been identified in the vibrational spectra. The SERS spectral analysis reveals that the large enhancement of in-plane bending, out of plane bending and ring breathing modes in the surface-enhanced Raman scattering spectrum indicates that the molecule is adsorbed on the silver surface in a ‘atleast vertical’ configuration, with the ring perpendicular to the silver surface.