Investigation on substituent effect in novel azo-naphthol dyes containing polymethacrylates for nonlinear optical studies

A novel structurally isomeric and free-radically polymerizable methacrylates bearing azo-naphthol group in the side chain spaced away from the backbone by a hexamethylene spacer and substituted in 4-position with electron-withdrawing and donating substituent were synthesized for NLO applications. These polymers were characterized by UV, IR, 1H-NMR and 13C-NMR spectroscopy. The photoisomerization properties of all the polymers were studied. The glass transition temperature and thermal stability of the polymers were investigated by DSC and TGA, respectively. The third-order nonlinear optical properties of the polymer film were measured by the Z-scan technique using Ar-ion laser and exhibits negative optical nonlinearity. The results revealed that these polymers possess potential applications in nonlinear optics.