Synthesis, crystal growth and characterisation of 2-aminomethylpyridinium picrate (2-ampp)-a charge transfer molecular complex and organic nonlinear optical material

Single crystals of 2-aminomethylpyridinium picrate (2-AMPP) were grown by slow evaporation-solution growth technique at room temperature. The cell and structural parameters of the grown crystal were determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. The characteristic functional groups in the compound were identified from Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The transmission and absorption spectra of this crystal show that the lower cut-off wavelength lies at 360 nm. Thermal analysis was performed to study the thermal stability of the grown crystal. The powder second harmonic generation efficiency of the grown crystal measured by Kurtz technique is 2 times efficient than potassium dihydrogen orthophosphate (KDP). Vicker's microhardness test showed that the hardness value increases with increasing the applied load up to 50g. The dielectric measurements of the compound in the frequency region from 50 Hz to 5 MHz showed that the material has lesser defects and can be used for optical application. (C) 2013 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.