Synthesis, growth, supramolecularity and antibacterial efficacy of 3,4-dimethoxybenzoic acid single crystals

[Display omitted] •DMBA single crystals are grown by slow evaporation solution growth technique.•PXRD analysis confirmed the triclinic crystal system with P1¯ space group.•The lower cut off wavelength is 350 nm.•The antibacterial efficacy studies confirmed that the DMBA compound is highly active. In this paper, we have investigated the antibacterial potentials of organic single crystals, 3,4-dimethoxybenzoic acid (DMBA) grown by the slow evaporation solution growth technique. The crystallinity and structural orientation of as-grown DMBA compound was thoroughly studied using single-crystal X-ray diffraction and powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) and found to be a triclinic crystal system with P1¯ space group. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was used to understand the nature of bonding and functionalization, while the UV–Vis spectroscopic analysis provided the linear optical properties at the lower cutoff wavelength of 350 nm and transparency of 87%. Also, the photoluminescence spectrum shows the ultraviolet emission of the DMBA single crystal. Further, the antibacterial efficacy of DMBA crystals is investigated by means of percentage (%) inhibition and zone of inhibition (ZoI) against the two different bacterial stains of Klebsiella pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus. The results confirmed that the DMBA compound has higher activity against Staphylococcus aureus growth (75% inhibition efficiency and 5 mm ZoI at 100 µg/mL) than that of Klebsiella pneumoniae (55% inhibition and 2 mm ZoI at 100 µg/mL) and thereby providing evidence for the potential role of the DMBA compound in future medicinal drugs.