Effect of π-extension and halogenation on the optical limiting properties of meso-pyrenylBODIPYdyes

The lack of suitable optical limiters that cover the entire UV-visible-NIR region has motivated research to identify novel efficient and stable optical limiting materials. There has been a strong focus on attenuating the second harmonic of Nd:YAG pulsed lasers at 532 nm on the nanosecond timescale. The photophysicochemical processes of a series of mono- and di-(4-dimethylamino)styryl-meso-pyrenylBODIPY and mono- and di-(4-dimethylamino)buta-1,3-dienyl-meso-pyrenylBODIPY dyes were studied by UV-visible absorption and fluorescence emission spectroscopy, and by determining the fluorescence and triplet state lifetimes. Z-scan measurements were carried out at a fixed concentration of 10 mu M so that the effective nonlinear coefficients, third-order susceptibilities, second-order hyperpolarizabilities and limiting fluences of the dyes can be compared and trends in the structure-property relationships for these optical limiting parameters can be identified.