Synthesis and nonlinear optical properties of 1,3,5-tricyano-2,4,6-tris[2-(thiophen-2-yl)vinyl]benzene derivatives

1,3,5-Tricyano-2,4,6-tris[2-(thiophen-2-yl)vinyl] benzene derivatives have been synthesized as a new type of octupolar nonlinear optical molecules and their linear and nonlinear optical properties were determined. The λ_max values increased with the conjugation length and as the conjugation bridge was changed from phenyl to thienyl group. For phenyl and thiophene derivatives, the β value increased with conjugation length. In contrast, the b values of the thiophene derivatives were much smaller than the corresponding phenyl derivatives.