Characterization of nonlinear optical chromophores having tricyanopyrroline acceptor unit and amino benzene donor unit with or without a benzyloxy group

Abstract

The optical properties of new tricyanopyrroline (TCP)-based chromophores with a benzyloxy group bound to aminobenzene donor unit were characterized by hyper-Rayleigh scattering (HRS), absorption spectrum, and ¹H-NMR measurements, and the influence of the benzyloxy group on TCP-based chromophores was discussed based on the data. A positive effect of NLO properties was found in TCP-based NLO chromophores with a benzyloxy group compared with benchmark NLO chromophores without the benzyloxy group, suggesting an influence of intra-molecular hydrogen bond. Furthermore, we propose a formation of double intra-molecular hydrogen bonds in the TCP chromophore with monoene as the π-conjugation bridge and aminobenzene with a benzyloxy group as the donor unit.