Piperazinium p-aminobenzenesulfonate (PPABS), a new nonlinear optical material was synthesized and crystals were grown from the methanol solvent by slow evaporation solution growth method. Single crystal X-ray diffraction study elucidated the crystal structure of PPABS. It crystallizes in orthorhombic crystal system with space group of Pbca. UV-vis-NIR spectral study was performed to analyze optical transparency of PPABS crystal and found that the grown crystal has sufficient transparency in the entire visible region with lower cutoff wavelength of 321 nm. The thermal stability and decomposition stages of the sample were studied by TG/DTA analyses. The different environmental carbon and hydrogen atoms of the proposed structure were identified by NMR spectral studies. The electric field response of crystal was determined from the dielectric studies. From the Z-scan measurements, the third order nonlinear optical properties of grown crystal were studied. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.