Good quality single crystals of Piperazinium adipate were grown from aqueous solution at room temperature by slow solvent evaporation method. The crystal belongs to triclinic crystal system with centrosymmetric space group P (1) over bar. Various functional groups present in the title compound were identified through FTIR, FTRaman and FTNMR spectral analyses. The UV-vis absorption studies of the crystal showed that the crystal is highly transparent in the entire visible range above 210 nm. The PL emission spectrum recorded at an excitation wavelength of 245 rim depicted a broad blue emission centered at 475 rim. The crystal is thermally stable upto 215 degrees C as found by TG-DTA and DSC analyses. The third-order nonlinear optical behavior of the title crystal was studied using Z-scan measurements. The negative nonlinear refractive index (n(2)) of the crystal suggested self-defocusing effect. The nonlinear absorption coefficient (beta) and third order nonlinear optical susceptibility (chi((3))) were also calculated from the measurements. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved,