A new donor-acceptor type conjugative poly{2-[4-(1-cyanoethenyl)phenyl]-3-(3,4-didodecyloxythiophen-2-yl)prop-2-enenitrile}: Synthesis and NLO studies

This research article describes a technique to synthesize a new donor-acceptor type conjugated polymer carrying cyanophenylenevinylene and 3,4-didodecyloxy thiophene moieties, as an effective optical limiting material. It also includes the evaluation of its linear and nonlinear optical properties and electrochemical studies. The new polymer, viz., poly{2-[4-(1-cyanoethenyl)phenyl]-3-(3,4-didodecyloxythiophen-2-yl)prop-2-enenitrile} (P1) has been synthesized starting from 2,2′-sulfanediyldiacetic acid and diethyl ethanedioate through multistep reactions. In the final step, the polymerization was brought about by Knovenagel condensation. The newly synthesized intermediate, monomer and the polymer (P1) have been characterized by different spectroscopic techniques followed by elemental analysis. Its optical and electrochemical properties are investigated by UV-vis, fluorescence spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetric studies, respectively. The red colored polymer has a well defined structure, good thermal stability and a band gap of 1.78 eV. It emits green fluorescence both in solution and in film state. The third-order nonlinear optical property (NLO) of the polymer was studied by the Z-scan technique. The measurements were performed at 532 nm with 5 ns laser pulses using samples in solution form. An absorptive nonlinearity of the optical limiting type was found in this polymer, which is due to the combined action of saturable absorption and excited state absorption processes. These studies revealed that polymer P1 is a promising material for optical limiting applications.