Designing Sulfate Crystals with Strong Optical Anisotropy through π-Conjugated Tailoring

Sulfate crystals typically exhibit minimal optical anisotropy due to the near-zero polarizability anisotropy (delta) of [SO4]2- tetrahedra, arising from highly symmetrical electron clouds. Recent research sought to enhance delta via chemical modifications, such as fluorination. However, the resultant crystals often maintain subpar optical anisotropy, frequently with birefringence values below 0.1. In this study, we have uncovered that delta can be significantly strengthened by chemically tailoring the tetrahedral [SO4]2- with anisotropic pi-conjugated modules. This has been demonstrated by several newly proposed S-O-Org (Org: pi-conjugated organic species) moieties, which show a sharp increase in delta based on theoretical computations. To further validate this experimentally, we synthesized and characterized six new 3-pyridinesulfonate crystals with the formula A(3-C5H4NSO3) & sdot; xH2O (A=Li, Ag, K, Rb, Cs, and NH4; x=0 and 1). Notably, these materials exhibit strong optical anisotropy, with birefringence values ranging from 0.240 to 0.312 at 546 nm. These values are approximately 23 to 145.5 times greater than those of corresponding sulfates, and they outperform a vast number of sulfate-related optical materials, thus verifying the effectiveness of the proposed strategy. Furthermore, the title compounds exhibit diverse microstructure peculiarities influenced by the size and binding natures of the counter cations. The optical anisotropy of sulfate optical materials can be significantly enhanced by strategically tailoring the isotropic [SO4]2- tetrahedra with pi-conjugated organic modules.image

Automated summary

Chemically tailoring the tetrahedral [SO4]2- with anisotropic pi-conjugated modules significantly enhances the optical anisotropy of sulfate crystals. Experimental results show that introducing pi-conjugated organic species into the tetrahedral structure greatly improves the optical anisotropy of sulfate crystals, with birefringence values ranging from 23 to 145.5 times higher than those of corresponding sulfates at the 546 nm wavelength.