The Schiff base compound (E)-2-[(2-chlorophenyl)iminomethyl]-4-trifluoromethoxyphenol has been synthesized and characterized by IR, UV-vis, and X-ray single-crystal determination. The molecular geometry from X-ray experiment in the ground state has been compared using the density functional theory (DFT) with the 6-311++G(d,p) basis set The calculated results show that the DFT can well reproduce the structure of the title compound. Using the TD-DFT method, electronic absorption spectra of the title compound have been predicted, and a good agreement is determined with the experimental ones. To investigate the tautomeric stability, optimization calculations at the B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) level were performed for the enol and keto forms of the title compound. Calculated results reveal that its enol form is more stable than its keto form. The predicted nonlinear optical properties of the title compound are much greater than those of urea. The changes of thermodynamic properties for the formation of the title compound with the temperature ranging from 200 to 500 K have been obtained using the statistical thermodynamic method. At 298.15 K, the change of Gibbs free energy for the formation reaction of the title compound is -824.841 kJ/mol. The title compound can spontaneously be produced from the isolated monomers at room temperature. The tautomeric equilibrium constant is also computed. as 3.85 x 10(-4) at 298.15 K for enol <-> keto tautomerization of the title compound. In addition, a molecular electrostatic potential map of the title compound was performed using the B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) method.