A Nonlinear Optically Active Bismuth-Camphorate Coordination Polymer

The novel 2D bismuth-camphorate IEF-1, formulated as [Bi(L)(HL)] (where H2L = camphoric acid), has been successfully isolated as large single crystals and easily scaled up by hydrothermal synthesis. The crystalline structure of IEF-1 was unveiled by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, in the monoclinic space group P2(1), and fully characterized by using several standard solid-state techniques. IEF-1 material is thermally stable up to ca. 240 degrees C without any visible structural change. In addition, the study of the nonlinear optical (NLO) properties of IEF-1 by second harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy evidenced that IEF-1 is noncentrosymmetric and has a more intensive blue component that may be explained by the ligand to metal charge transfer behavior.