The single crystals of organic nonlinear optical material, 2-amino-5-chlorobenzophen one (2A-5CB) (10 x 2 x 2 mm(3)) were grown by the slow evaporation solution growth technique using acetone as a solvent. The UV-Visible spectrum shows a cut-off wavelenght of 440 nm. The grown crystals were characterized by XRD, FT-IR, FT-RAMAN and NMR. The mechanical and optical properties of 2A-5CB were studied. The grown crystal exhibits second harmonic generation. (C) 2004 Published by Elsevier B.V.