Structural, Hirshfeld and DFT studies of conjugated D–π–A carbazole chalcone crystal

A new conjugated carbazole chalcone compound, (E)-3-[4-(9,9a-dihydro-8aH-carbazol-9-yl)phenyl]-1-(4-nitrophenyl)prop-2-en-1-one (CPNC), C27H18N2O3, was synthesized using a Claisen–Schmidt condensation reaction. CPNC crystallizes in the monoclinic non-centrosymmetric space group Cc and adopts an s-cis conformation with respect to the ethylenic double bonds (C=O and C=C). The crystal packing features C—H...O and C—H...π interactions whose percentage contribution was quantified by Hirshfeld surface analysis. Quantum chemistry calculations including geometrical optimization and molecular electrostatic potential (MEP) were analysed by density functional theory (DFT) with a B3LYP/6–311 G++(d,p) basis set.