Synthesis, growth and characterization of a new metal–organic NLO material: Dibromo bis (l-proline) Cd (II)

•Good quality single crystals of dibromo bis (l-proline) Cd (II) in an orthorhombic system with P212121 were grown.•Metal–ligand coordination, structural properties and hydrogen bonds are discussed.•At room temperature DBPC possess soft magnetic properties.•DBPC crystal is thermally stable up to 218 °C.•SHG efficiency of the DBPC is 2.25 times that of KDP crystal.

Single crystals of metal–organic complex dibromo bis (l-proline) Cd (II) (DBPC) were grown by low temperature solution growth method. The synthesized material was purified by the process of repeated recrystallization. The grown crystal was confirmed by Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR), Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (1H NMR and 13C NMR) spectral studies and single crystal X-ray diffraction. Single crystal X-ray analysis shows that DBPC crystallizes in orthorhombic crystal system with space group P212121. The coordination geometry around the cadmium (II) center is distorted tetrahedral. The title compound was characterized by UV–Vis–NIR study shows that the crystal is transparent in the wavelength range 200–1100 nm and TG/DTA analysis. The magnetic property of DBPC is investigated at room temperature. The microhardness test was carried out. The second harmonic efficiency of powdered DBPC was determined by Kurtz and Perry method and it is 2.25 times that of KDP.

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