Strong Solvent Effects on the Nonlinear Optical Properties of Z and E Isomers from Azo-Enaminone Derivatives

We calculated the nonlinear optical properties of 24 azo-enaminone derivatives, incorporating solvent effects on their geometric and electronic structure, to assess the impact of the environment on these properties. Namely, we incorporated chloroform, tetrahydrofuran, acetone, ethanol, methanol, and dimethyl sulfoxide in our calculations and compared our results incorporating solvent effects with our gas-phase calculations. To account for the electron correlation effects on NLO properties, we performed the calculations at MP2/6-31G(p)//MP2/6-31G(d) level set. The polarizable continuum model was used to simulate the presence of the solvent. The exponents of p extra functions added to heavy atoms were obtained, imposing the maximization of the first hyperpolarizability. Two structural configurations (Z and E) of azo-enaminones were investigated to assess the isomeric effects of the electric properties. Our results show that both solvent polarity and relative strength of the donor groups have a significant impact on the electric properties but more strikingly on the first hyperpolarizability beta.