Studies on synthesis, structural, luminescent and thermal properties of a new non-linear optical crystal: 4-amino-4H-1,2,4-triazol-1-ium-3-hydroxy-2,4,6-trinitrophenolate

A new organic proton transfer complex having NLO activity, 4-amino-4H-1,2,4-triazol-1-ium-3-hydroxy-2,4,6-trinitrophenolate (ATHTP), was crystallized to investigate the factors which stabilize the structure of the crystal. The compound crystallizes in triclinic system with space group P-1. Elemental analysis, thermal analysis, UV-Vis-NIR, FT-IR and NMR spectral analyses were carried out to characterize the crystal. Optical, spectral and thermal properties of the title crystal were analyzed to recommend the material for optical applications. Z-scan was used to measure the effective third-order nonlinear optical susceptibility and nonlinear refractive index. The crystal structure was determined using single crystal XRD method and the structure was optimized using Gaussian 09 program at B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) level of basis set. This hydrogen bond interactions led to the increase in first-order hyperpolarizability of ATHTP and was 30 times greater than that of urea. Hirshfeld analyses surface analysis was carried out to explore intermolecular interactions in the crystalline state.