Synthesis and electro-optic activities of novel polycarbonates bearing tricyanopyrroline-based nonlinear optical chromophores with excellent thermal stability of dipole alignment

Two series of novel electro-optic (EO) polycarbonates incorporating two kinds of tricyanopyrroline-based nonlinear optical (NLO) chromophores were designed and synthesized. These new polycarbonates were prepared through the facile copolymerization of dial NLO chromophores and bisphenol A bis(chloroformate), and the successful preparations were demonstrated by H-1 NMR and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectra. These polycarbonates possessed good thermal stabilities and also showed higher glass transition temperatures (T-g) in the range of 156-165 degrees C. After corona poling, the EO coefficients (r(33)) of two poled polycarbonates films were up to 52 pm/V (PC-DTCPC-Ph-2) and 46 pm/V (PC-DTCPCFPh-2) at the wavelength of 1310 nm. The higher T(g)s endow the polycarbonates' poled films with good temporal stability of poling-induced dipole alignment, and the resulting poled films of PC-DTCPC-Ph-2 and PC-DTCPC-FPh-2 could retain 95% and 93% of the initial EO activities at 85 degrees C for more than 500 h respectively. Crown Copyright (C) 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.