Synthesis and nonlinear optical properties of 1,3,5-tricyano-2,4,6-tris[2-(thiophen-2-yl)vinyl]benzene derivatives

1,3,5-Tricyano-2,4,6-tris[2-(thiophen-2-yl)vinyl]benzene derivatives have been synthesized as a new type of octupolar nonlinear optical molecules and their linear and nonlinear optical properties were determined. The lambda(max) values increased with the conjugation length and as the conjugation bridge was changed from phenyl to thienyl group. For phenyl and thiophene derivatives, the beta value increased with conjugation length. In contrast, the b values of the thiophene derivatives were much smaller than the corresponding phenyl derivatives.