Single crystals of L-alanine formate (L-AlFo) have been grown from aqueous solution by using the novel uniaxial crystal growth method of Sankaranarayanan and Ramasamy (SR) with a due modification in the growth assembly. A vertical bottom-seed ampoule was rotated by 90 degrees/s using a stepper motor and was used for the growth of single crystal and ring heater was replaced by alternating 40W filament lamps for maintaining the evaporation rate. L-alanine formate crystals of 10 turn diameter and 50 min length have been grown with a growth rate 5 mm per day. The grown crystal was subjected to single-crystal X-ray analysis, which confirms that the crystal belongs to orthorhombic structure with space group P-212121. The presence of formate functional groups in L-AlFo and the protanation of ions were confirmed by Fourier transform infrared transmission (FTIR) analysis. The nonlinear optical (NLO) property of the grown crystal was confirmed by Kurtz powder test. The DRS UV-vis spectrum of the crystal shows that the crystal has UV cut-off at 205 nm. TGA/DTA studies revealed that the crystal was thermally stable up to 234 degrees C. (C) 2007 Published by Elsevier B.V.