Issue 1, 2017

Janus second-order nonlinear optical dendrimers: their controllable molecular topology and corresponding largely enhanced performance

Abstract

A new type of Janus dendrimers, consisting of two different side dendrons with the dipole orientation of the second-order nonlinear optical (NLO) chromophore moieties partially in a non-centrosymmetric direction, was intelligently designed and synthesized in order to enhance the macroscopic NLO performance and break through the limitation of NLO efficiency in the current molecular topological structure of azo chromophore-based polymers. This kind of Janus dendritic structure was constructed by the combination of convergent and divergent methods, with the utilization of a powerful “click chemistry reaction”. The obtained three dendrimers, D-13N, D-17N and D-21N, show very high NLO performance, especially the dramatically enhanced NLO coefficient of 299 pm V−1 for D-13N, which is the highest value ever reported for polymers containing a simple azo chromophore. The new dendrimers provide a clear structure–properties relationship between high NLO efficiency and the controllable molecular topology with the non-centrosymmetrical alignment of dipole orientation, thus opening up a new avenue for the further development of NLO dendrimers with high performance and more importantly providing some clues for the rational design of functional dendrimers with controllable molecular topology.

Graphical abstract: Janus second-order nonlinear optical dendrimers: their controllable molecular topology and corresponding largely enhanced performance

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
05 Jul 2016
Accepted
11 Aug 2016
First published
17 Aug 2016
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Chem. Sci., 2017,8, 340-347

Janus second-order nonlinear optical dendrimers: their controllable molecular topology and corresponding largely enhanced performance

R. Tang, S. Zhou, Z. Cheng, G. Yu, Q. Peng, H. Zeng, G. Guo, Q. Li and Z. Li, Chem. Sci., 2017, 8, 340 DOI: 10.1039/C6SC02956F

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements