Bromine Substitution Effect on Structure, Reactivity, and Linear and Third-Order Nonlinear Optical Properties of 2,3-Dimethoxybenzaldehyde.

The structural and electronic properties of 2,3-dimethoxybenzaldehyde (2,3-DMB), 5-bromo-2,3-dimethoxybenzaldehyde (5-BRB), and 6-bromo-2,3-dimethoxybenzaldehyde (6-BRB) were extensively discussed with emphasis on linear and nonlinear optical responses. The intermolecular interactions were comparatively studied by Hirshfeld surfaces, quantum theory of atoms in molecules (QTAIM), and natural bond orbitals (NBOs), indicating that bromine substitution decreases the H···H and C···H contacts and increases H···Br and Br···Br closed-shell interactions on crystalline arrangements. The frontier molecular orbitals and molecular electrostatic potential map, carried out at the CAM-B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) level of theory, showed that the kinetic stability occurs in the increasing order 6-BRB < 5-BRB < 2.