Solvent Effects on Two-Photon Absorption of Alkyne and Alkene π-bridging Chromophores

The present work concerns the study of solvent effects on the geometrical structures, as well as one- and two-photon absorption (TPA) processes, for two series of alkyne and alkene π-bridging molecules, within the framework of the polarization continuum model. Particular emphasis was put on the characterization of solvent effects on the molecular geometrical structures and geometric distortion, which were measured by the bond-length-alternation parameter. The π centres in the compounds are seen to play a decisive role in increasing the TPA cross section and nonlinear optical properties. All studied molecules have relatively strong TPA characteristics, while the alkyne π-bridging ones yield larger TPA cross sections.