Experimental and density functional studies on two structurally similar antipyrine derivatives: 4-(2-hydroxy-5-nitrobenzylidene-amino)-1,2-dihydro-1,5-dimethyl-2-phenylpyrazol-3-one and 4-(3-bromo-5-chloro-2-hydroxybenzylideneamino)-1,2-dihydro-1,5-dimethyl-2-phenylpyrazol-3-one

The Schiff base compounds, 4-(2-hydroxy-5-nitr- obenzylideneamino)-1,2-dihydro-1,5-dimethyl-2-phenylpy- razol-3-one and 4-(3-bromo-5-chloro-2-hydroxybenz- ylideneamino)-1,2-dihydro-1,5-dimethyl-2-phenylpyrazol-3-one, have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, IR, and X-ray single crystal determination. Density functional calculations of the structures, natural bond orbitals, and frontier molecular orbitals and Mülliken charge analysis on the compounds were performed at B3LYP/6-31+G(d) level of theory. Vibrational frequencies were also predicted, assigned, and compared with the experimental values, which supported each other.