Optical quality single crystals of dichloro bis(triphenylphosphine oxide) zinc(II)(ZnCl2(TPPO)(2), TPPO = triphenylphosphine oxide) were successfully grown from ethanol solution by slow evaporation method. The crystal was characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, FTIR spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermal gravity analysis (DTA), and UV-vis-IR spectroscopy. SHG efficiency and laser damage threshold of the crystal were measured. The cutoff wavelength of the crystal was observed to be below 290 nm and the SHG efficiency is 1.5%. The crystal has a high damage threshold of 2.4GW/cm(2). Notably, the ZnCl2(TPPO)(2) crystal can reach phase matching of SHG in the visible region. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.