Synthesis, spectroscopic investigations, and computational study of 4-((9,10-dioxo-9,10-dihydroanthracen-1-yl)oxy)-3-methoxybenzaldehyde

Abstract

4-((9,10-dioxo-9,10-dihydroanthracen-1-yl)oxy)-3-methoxybenzaldehyde has been synthesized in an attempt to obtain a new photochromic compound. The optimized molecular structure, mole fractions of title compound in trans and ana forms have been investigated. UV-visible spectra of the compound were also recorded. Upon irradiation with 300 nm light, the camel solid turned orange, in which a visible absorption band was observed at 475 nm. The electronic properties, such as HOMO, LUMO and band gap energies were obtained by the time-dependent DFT (TD-DFT) approach. The predicted nonlinear optical properties of the title compound are much greater than those of urea. Transition structures were calculated by QST3 and IRC methods which yielded the potential energy surface and activation energy.