Synthesis of Chromophores with Extremely High Electro-optic Activities. 2. Isophorone- and Combined Isophorone−Thiophene-Based Chromophores

Four new isophorone and combined isophorone and thiophene bridged chromophores have been synthesized. All of these new high μβ chromophores possess our newly synthesized tricyanovinyldihydrofuran acceptors. Because of our unique acceptor design, all of our chromophores show high solubility in all organic solvents due to minimized chromophore−chromophore electrostatic interactions. These chromophores have also been studied with respect to their solvatochromism and thermal behavior by TGA in air. Preliminary EO characterization of one of these chromophores in polycarbonate has demonstrated an extremely high r 33 of 70 pm/V at 1550 nm. We believe that this is the largest r 33 reported at this wavelength.