A novel compound 2-chloro-3,6-bis-(quinolin-8-yloxymethyl)-quinoline 3 bearing a triquinoline moiety has been synthesized from 2-chloro-3,6-dimethyl quinoline 1 and 8-hydroxy quinoline using dry acetone and K2CO3 as a base. 3 has been characterized by using FT-IR, FT-Raman, UV-Vis, 1 H NMR, 13 C NMR spectra and single crystal X-ray diffraction methods. We have also made a combined experimental and theoretical study on the molecular structure, vibrational spectra, NMR, FT-IR, FT-Raman and UV-Vis spectra of 2-chloro-3,6-bis-(quinolin-8-yloxymethyl)-quinoline. The theoretical studies of the title compound have been evaluated by using density functional theory calculations using B3LYP/6-31+G(d,p) and M06-2X/6-31+G(d,p) level of theories. The calculated theoretical values were found to be in good agreement with the experimental findings. The single crystal structure 3 crystallized in the orthorhombic space group Pna21. The compound 3 exhibits higher cytotoxicity in human cervical cancer cell lines (HeLa) than human breast cancer cell lines (MCF7). Highlights • A novel tri-quinoline was synthesized and optimized by density functional theories. • Single crystal XRD, FT-IR, Raman, 1 H, 13 C NMR and UV-Vis spectra were studied. • All the experimental data were compared with theoretical values. • Cytotoxicity was determined by MTT assay and by theoretical calculations.