A 3-phenoxypropane-1, 2-diol based bichromophore for enhanced nonlinear optical properties

The structure of a novel bichromophore that comprised a readily hyperpolarisable chromophore with 3-phenoxypropane-1, 2-diol via esterification, was confirmed by elemental analysis, UV–visible absorption spectra and 1H NMR. Nonlinear optical polymer films were fabricated by doping the bichromophore and the corresponding monochromophore into poly(4-vinylphenol). In situ second harmonic generation measurements revealed that the bichromophore imparted a 2.2-fold enhancement in the second harmonic generation coefficients of the films, indicating that the novel 3-phenoxypropane-1, 2-diol derivative could be used in the design and synthesis of multi-chromophoric dendrimers with large macroscopic optical nonlinearity.