New comb‐like polymers with prospective nonlinear optical properties

Abstract

AbstractNew methacrylic copolymers with prospective second‐order nonlinear optical effects are synthesized by radical copolymerization of methyl methacrylate with conjugated zwitterionic methacrylate monomers (2,6‐di‐tert‐butyl‐4‐[1‐(ω‐methacryloyloxyalkyl)‐4‐pyridino]phenolates,1a and 1b). These monomers are obtained via a multi‐step reaction. First, 4‐(3,5‐di‐tert‐butyl‐4‐hydroxyphenyl)pyridine (2) is electrosynthesized by an SRN1 reaction in liquid ammonia. Then, this pyridine derivative is N‐alkylated by an ω‐bromoalkyl methacrylate (5a or 5b) which, in its turn, is obtained by esterification of an ω‐bromoalcohol and methacryloyl chloride.