Optical properties of a donor–acceptor-substituted “hemi-cruciform” catechol derivative

The optical properties of a novel catechol derivative have been studied; a very large solvatochromism of the emission spectra was observed, revealing an important low-energy intra-molecular charge-transfer. From our experiment, a chemical structure–polarizability relationship is studied according to the Lippert–Mataga correlation and compared to results obtained previously for analogous compounds. This synthetic strategy complemented with characterizations and theoretical analysis allows one to design specific charge-transfer compounds to be used as nonlinear chromophores and ligands in multifunctional complexes.