In the search for new molecular crystals for nonlinear optics (NLO), nine inorganic salts containing the 1,3-diaminoguanidinium(1+) cation as a promising organic "Y-aromatic" carrier of NLO properties were prepared and studied. Crystal structures of eight new salts, namely 1,3-diaminoguanidinium(1+) chloride (P21/c), hypophosphite (P21/c), hydrogen phosphite (P-1), dihydrogen phosphate (P21/c), hydrogen phosphate (P21/m), nitrite (P-1), sulfite (Pbcm) and chlorate (P21/c) were solved by the single crystal X-ray diffraction.
The crystal structures contain centrosymmetric arrangements of pairs of counterions assembled into hydrogen-bonded undulated sheets. The charge-assisted hydrogen bonds in the resulting hydrogen bond networks are accommodated by the conformation of the 1,3-diaminoguanidinium(1+) cation as a hydrogen bond donor.
All salts were also characterized by powder X-ray diffraction. The vibrational spectra (FTIR and Raman) were studied for all newly prepared salts and the previously published non-centrosymmetric sulfate (P6122).
The assignment of the vibrational bands of these hydrogen-bonded crystals is derived from quantum-chemical computations (B3LYP/6-311G+(d,p) along with the Potential Energy Distribution analysis) concerning isolated 1,3-diaminoguanidinium(1+) cation and the results of correlation analysis involving present inorganic anions. The linear and nonlinear optical properties of the only non-centrosymmetric salt - 1,3-diaminoguanidinium sulfate - were studied.
This uniaxial positive crystal is optically transparent down to 230 nm, and refractive indices (ne = 1.65 and no = 1.56) have been determined at 532 nm. The dispersion curves of the refractive indices were also calculated by the Q(LFT) procedure in the 532-1907 nm region.
The experimentally determined (using 800 and 1000 nm laser irradiation) very low efficiency of second harmonic generation (i.e., approx. 1% of KDP), which is consistent with the Kleinman symmetry assumption for the P6122 space group, limits further use of this crystal for second-order NLO applications.