Structural and optical properties of a new chalcone single crystal

A new nonlinear optical material 1-(4-methylthiophenyl)-3-(4-methoxyphenyl)prop-2-en-1-one with molecular formula C17H16O2S was synthesized by using the Claisen-Schmidt condensation reaction method. The Various functional groups present in the compound were identified using recorded FT-IR spectrum. The crystal growth parameters have been studied using solubility test and acetone is found to be a very good solvent for the crystal growth at an ambient temperature. The transparent high quality single crystals up to a size of 26 x 2 x 2 mm(3) were grown using the slow evaporation solution growth technique. UV-visible study was carried out and the spectrum reveals that the crystal is transparent in the entire visible region and absorptive in the UV region. The refractive index is determined using Brewster's angle method. The optical energy band gap of the material is measured using Tauc's plot and the direct method. The single crystal XRD of MMPP crystal shows the following cell parameters: a=5.9626(2) angstrom, b=15.3022(6) angstrom, c=16.0385(7) angstrom, alpha=beta=gamma=90 degrees, volume=1463.37 (10) angstrom(3) with a space group of Pna21. The compound MMPP exhibits optical nonlinearity (NLO) and its second order NLO efficiency is 3.15 times to that of urea. The effect of functional groups OCH3 and SCH3 on the non-linearity as well as the structural property of the compound has been discussed. The crystal is thermally stable. High NLO efficiency, good thermal stability, good transparency and ability to grow as a high quality single crystal make this material very attractive for opto-electronic applications. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.