New hyperbranched second-order nonlinear optical poly(arylene-ethynylene)s containing pentafluoroaromatic rings as isolation group: Facile synthesis and enhanced optical nonlinearity through Ar-ArF self-assembly effect

In this article, a facile route was designed to prepare four new hyperbranched poly(arylene-ethynylene)s containing azo-chromophore moieties through one-pot A2+B3 approach via simple Sonogashira coupling reaction. The polymers were all soluble in organic solvents and demonstrated good nonlinear optical (NLO) properties, because of the three-dimensional spatial isolation effect of these hyperbranched polymers. Due to the different B3-type comonomer, the self-assembly effect of pentafluoroaromatic in the interior of these polymers were different, leading to the different trends of the NLO activities. (C) 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2012