Synthesis and Properties of Organic Nonlinear Optical Chromophores Containing Azo- and Furan-Based Conjugated Bridge

In this work, novel organic non-linear optical chromophore containing azo-furan based conjugation bridge (EF-NFC) was designed and synthesized. Moreover, the optical and thermal properties of EFNFC were systematically compared with those of two different conjugation bridges of vinyl-furan (EFFC) and azo-benzene (EFNC) containing same electron donor and acceptor moieties, respectively. It was found that similar maximum absorption wavelength in DMSO solution was detected for EFNFC (573 rim) and EFNC (568 nm), which indicated an improved visible light transmittance compared to EFFC. Meanwhile, the second-order polarizability of EFNFC (4.479 x 10(-49) esu) was lower than that of EFNC (5.971 x 10(-49) esu), but larger than that of EFFC (3.194 x 10(-49) esu) according to the solvatochromism test. All three chromophores exhibited good thermal stability as their 5% decomposition temperatures (T-d) were over 250 degrees C, especially the highest T-d of 275 degrees C was detected from the synthesized novel EFNFC chromophore.