SYNTHESIS, CHARACTERIZATION AND NONLINEAR OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF FOUR NOVEL SCHIFF BASE COMPOUNDS

Multifunctional Schiff base ligands 2-{(E)-[(2-hydroxypropyl)imino]methyl}phenol L1, 3-{(E)-[(2-hydroxypropyl)imino]methyl}-2-naphthol L2, 2-[(E)-{[(2R)-2-hydroxypropyl]imino}methyl]-4-[(E)phenyldiazenyl]phenol L3, and 2-[(E)-{[(2R)-2-hydroxypropyl]imino}methyl]-4-[(E)-(4nitrophenyldiazenyl)] phenol L4 (Figure 1) were synthesized. These Schiff base compounds have been characterized by C, H, N elemental analysis, FT-IR, UV-Vis, and H-1 NMR spectroscopy. Molecular structures, electronic properties (charges), and hyperpolarizabilities of compounds L1-L4 were modeled with the semi-empirical AM1 (Austin Model 1) method. The L4 molecule contains a lot of non-zero beta values revealing microscopic non-linear optic (NLO) properties.