Structure and nonlinear optical properties of (E)-1-(4-aminophenyl)- 3-(3-chlorophenyl) prop-2-en-1-one: A promising new D-p-A-p-D type chalcone derivative crystal for nonlinear optical devices Anusha Ekbote a, c , P.S. Patil a, * , Shivaraj R. Maidur a , Tze Shyang Chia b , Ching Kheng Quah b a Department of Engineering Physics, K.L.E. Institute of Technology, Opposite Airport, Gokul, Hubballi 580 030, India b X-ray Crystallography Unit, School of Physics, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang 11800, Malaysia c Department of Physics, KLS's Gogte Institute of Technology, Udyambag, Belagavi 590010, India article info Article history: Received 12 July 2016 Received in revised form 25 September 2016 Accepted 26 September 2016 Available online 28 September 2016 Keywords: Chalcone derivatives Crystal growth Nonlinear optical materials Optical limiting Z-scan abstract In this paper, we present the structure and nonlinear optical (NLO) studies of a D-p-A-p-D type chalcone derivative, (E)-1-(4-aminophenyl)-3-(3-chlorophenyl) prop-2-en-1-one (abbreviated as 3CAMC). The compound was synthesized by Claisen-Schmidt condensation and single crystals were grown by slow evaporation solution growth technique. The structure was confirmed by FT-IR, 1 H NMR and single-crystal X-ray diffraction techniques. The 3CAMC crystal is crystallized in the monoclinic crystal system with non- centrosymmetric space group P2 1 with the unit cell parameters a ¼ 8.0013 (19) Å, b ¼ 4.6630 (11) Å, c ¼ 16.883 (4) Å, b ¼ 95.568 (3)  and Z ¼ 2. The optical absorption spectrum was recorded using UVeVis eNIR spectrophotometer and the band gap was calculated. The title crystal has a direct band gap of 2.96 eV. TGA/DTA thermal analysis revealed that the crystal has a good thermal stability. The second harmonic generation (SHG) efficiency was investigated using the modified Kurtz-Perry powder test at 1064 nm wavelength with nanosecond (ns) laser pulses. The SHG efficiency is found to be 7 times higher than the well-studied urea. The third-order nonlinear optical properties of 3CAMC at different concen- trations were investigated in DMF using Z-scan technique with continuous wave (CW) DPSS laser at 532 nm wavelength. The molecule shows a strong two-photon absorption (2PA) and significant negative nonlinear refraction characteristic (self-defocusing) in the CW regime. Further, we observed the optical limiting behavior in the compound, and evaluated the one-photon and two-photon figures of merit. The encouraging results of NLO studies suggest that the 3CAMC crystal is a promising material for photonics devices, optical switches, and optical power limiting applications. © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Chalcones (1,3-diaryl-2-propen-1-ones) constitute one of the major classes of flavonoids with widespread distribution in vege- tables, fruits, tea and soy [1,2]. These molecules are synthetically interesting because of their structural flexibility, possible linkage to other molecules and coordinating nature of their rings [3e5]. Contemporary studies report significant pharmacological activities of chalcones including antifungal, antibacterial, antitumor, anti- proliferative, anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and anticancer effects [2e12]. Organic molecular systems having conjugated p-systems are of great interest as potential materials for the applications related to the nonlinear optical (NLO) properties. In recent years, among organic NLO materials, chalcone derivatives are currently attracting considerable attention because of their feasible applications in the optoelectronic devices, information storage, optical switching and optical power limiting applications [13e20]. The donor-acceptor substituents attached to the conjugated p-system play a vital role in terms of NLO activity. By increasing the donor-acceptor capability, the nonlinearity can be increased. The nonlinear optical activity of the molecular system is associated with intramolecular charge transfer resulting from an electron cloud movement through a p- conjugated framework from electron donor to electron acceptor * Corresponding author. E-mail address: pspatilcrystal@gmail.com (P.S. Patil). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Molecular Structure journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/molstruc http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.molstruc.2016.09.077 0022-2860/© 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Journal of Molecular Structure 1129 (2017) 239e247