Experimental and density functional theory investigation of 1-(4-Bromophenyl)-3-(4-ethoxyphenyl)-prop-2-en-1-one (EBC) single crystals for high second-order nonlinear optical applications

Theoretical calculation and characterization on the D-pi-A-pi-D type of organic nonlinear optical crystals 1-(4-Bromophenyl)-3-(4-ethoxyphenyl)-prop-2-en-1-one (EBC) were studied. The EBC single crystals with a size of 8 x2 x2 mm(3) were successfully grown using slow cooling method in the methanol solution. Quantum chemical calculations for the experimental structure of the EBC molecule were performed at B3LYP/6-31G basis set using the density functional theory. The powder XRD, FT-IR and H-1 NMR spectral of EBC molecule were investigated theoretically and experimentally, which can specify the used enantiopure starting materials, suggest the absence of impurity. The EBC crystals exhibit a large macroscopic nonlinearity, and it is revealed that the second harmonic generation efficiency (SHG) is 20 times that of KDP. Their thermal stability, UN-Vis-NIR spectrum, and the relationship between dielectric properties at different frequencies and temperature had also been investigated. In addition, the molecular electrostatic potential, frontier molecular orbitals, global reactivity descriptors, natural bond orbital, Hirshfeld surface and 2D-fingerprint were analyzed to get a better understanding of the molecular properties. (c) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.