New quinacridone derivatives: Synthesis, photophysical and third-order nonlinear optical properties

Abstract

A series of quinacridone third-order nonlinear optical chromophores containing phenyl, 4-methoxyphenyl and N,N-bis(4-methoxyphenyl)aniline groups were designed and synthesized. The optical properties, electrical properties, theoretical calculations and Z-Scan of the compounds were measured and analyzed to investigate the relationship between structure and third-order NLO properties. The experimental results showed that the introduction of electron-donating groups at the N-position of quinacridone decreases the energy gap (Egap) between the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) of the molecule, and promotes intramolecular charge transfer (ICT). Quinacridone derivatives containing N, N-bis (4-methoxyphenyl) aniline have good third-order nonlinear optical properties, with the nonlinear absorption coefficient (β) value of 1.4319 × 10−13 and the second-order superpolarizability (γ) of 2.6849 × 10−33 esu.