Preparation and Nonlinear Optics of Monodisperse Oligo(1,4-phenyleneethynylene)s

Abstract

Oligo(1,4-phenyleneethynylene)s 1a−e, with solubilizing propoxy side chains, were prepared by use of Hagihara−Sonogashira coupling reactions. The synthetic strategy was based on a building block system and on the use of trimethylsilyl and triisopropylsilyl protecting groups that could be cleaved selectively. The extension of the conjugation with an increasing number of repeat units provokes a bathochromic shift of the long wavelength absorption and a superlinear increase of the second hyperpolarizability |γ|. The corresponding third harmonic generation (THG) measurements were performed using polystyrene matrices and variable laser wavelengths. We conclude that the conjugation length is much larger than 5 repeat units.