Push-pull chromophores with π-deficient benzoazine and π-excessive thiophene cores in conjugated bridge as sources of quadratic nonlinear optical activity of composite polymer materials and molecular glasses

Impact of π-deficient heterocyclic core (A′) in conjugated bridge of D-π-A′-π-A chromophores (D = N,N-dihexylaniline, A = tricyanofuran derivative) on optical and thermal properties has been investigated. Three new chromophores with vinyl-hetaryl-vinyl bridges containing π-deficient benzoazine moiety (quinoxaline, quinoxalinone and quinoline) have been synthesized along with new chromophores with vinyl-thiophene-vinyl bridge containing π-excessive heterocycle and short vinylene bridge, and their properties are compared to reveal the role of π-deficient hetaryl moiety. Their linear optical properties were systematically investigated by UV–Vis spectroscopy and molecular nonlinear optical (NLO) characteristics were predicted by DFT calculations. As the aromaticity of the heterocycle in the bridge increases, a hypochromicity and hypsochromic shift of the absorption maximum manifest themselves in the UV–Vis spectra, the origin of electron transitions was studied by TD-DFT with CAM-B3LYP and PBE0 density functionals. The calculated first hyperpolarizability, βtot, for A′ = quinoxaline, quinoline and thiophene, was shown to be almost independent on the type of the π-bridge core, being in a narrow interval 800–831⋅10−30 esu, while for A′ = quinoxalinone βtot is essentially higher (996⋅10−30 esu). All chromophores exhibit good thermal stability (Td > 192 °C). Thin films of composite polymer materials with PMMA matrix and studied chromophores as guests as well as of some molecular glasses were spin-cast and corona-poled, and their quadratic NLO activity was measured by two different techniques. For materials with guest chromophores containing quinoxalinone, quinoxaline and thiophene moieties in the bridges NLO coefficients d33 were found to be rather close and reached 76 pm/V, what is almost 3 times higher than that for polymer film with quinoline-based chromophore. Rather high values of NLO coefficients for molecular glasses based on chromophores with quinoline, thiophene and quinoxalinone cores were obtained: 52, 124 and 132 pm/V, respectively, which notably exceed the values for composite materials with these chromophores as guests.