Nonlinear optical (NLO) activity of the compound (2E)-2-(ethoxycarbonyl)-3-[(1-methoxy-1-oxo-3-phenylpropan-2-yl)amino] prop-2-enoic acid is investigated experimentally and theoretically using X-ray crystallography and quantum chemical calculations. The NLO activity is confirmed by both powder Second Harmonic Generation (SHG) experiment and first hyper polarizability calculation. The title compound displays 8 fold excess of SHG activity when compared with the standard compound KDP. The gas phase geometry optimization and vibrational frequencies calculations are performed using density functional theory (DFT) incorporated in B3LYP with 6-311G++(d,p) basis set. The title compound crystallizes in non-centrosymmetric space group P21. Moreover, the crystal structure is primarily stabilized through intramolecular N-H···O and O-H···O hydrogen bonds and intermolecular C-H···O and C-H···π interactions. These intermolecular interactions are analyzed and quantified using Hirshfeld surface analysis and PIXEL method. The detailed vibrational assignments are performed on the basis of the potential energy distributions (PED) of the vibrational modes.

SmCl3 (20 mol%) has been used as an efficient catalyst for reaction between aromatic aldehydes and 5,5-dimethyl-1,3-cyclohexanedione at 120°C to give 1,8-dioxo-octahydroxanthene derivatives in high yield. The same reaction in water, at room temperature gave only the open chain analogue of 1,8-dioxo-octahydroxanthene. Use of eco-friendly green Lewis acid, readily available catalyst and easy isolation of the product makes this a convenient method for the synthesis of either of the products.

Cyclopropanols, on oxidative ring opening with AgNO3-K2S2O8 in DCM-H2O at room temperature and under open flask conditions, produced β-keto radicals which were successfully added to quinones to furnish γ-carbonyl quinones. This mild method has been applied to the synthesis of cytotoxic natural products, 4,6-dimethoxy-2,5-quinodihydrochalcone and evelynin.

Molecular iodine-promoted efficient construction of isatins from 2'-aminophenylacetylenes, 2'-aminostyrenes, and 2'-amino-β-ketoesters is developed via oxidative amidation of sp, sp(2), and sp(3) C-H bonds. The reaction involves consecutive iodination, Kornblum oxidation, and intramolecular amidation in a single reactor. The present method meets all of the atom and redox economy principles.