Density functional theory calculations on conformational, spectroscopic and electrical properties of 3-(2,3-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-(pyridin-2-yl)prop-2-en-1-one: a potential nonlinear optical material

Quantum chemical calculations of the ground state energy, the highest and lowest energy conformers and vibrational wavenumbers of 3-(2,3-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-(pyridin-2-yl)prop-2-en-1-one have been performed by using Gaussian 09 program. B3LYP and HSEH1PBE levels of density functional theory with the 6-311++G(d,p) basis set have been used to perform above-mentioned calculations. The vibrational wavenumbers have been assigned on the basis of potential energy distribution analysis. Stability of the molecule arising from hyper-conjugative interactions and charge delocalization has been analyzed using natural bond orbital analysis. The frontier molecular orbitals have been simulated, and obtained small energy gap between the highest occupied molecular orbital and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energies has confirmed that charge transfer occurs within title compound. Nonlinear optical behavior of the title compound has been investigated by determining electric dipole moment, polarizability and hyperpolarizability. Finally, the molecular electrostatic potential surface and density of state have been simulated to find more reactive sites for electrophilic and nucleophilic attack. (author)