Synthesis of tricyanovinyl-substituted thienylpyrroles and characterization of the solvatochromic, electrochemical and non-linear optical properties

Tricyanovinyl-substituted 1-(alkyl)aryl-2-(2′-thienyl)pyrroles have been synthesized by direct tricyanovinylation reaction of 1-(alkyl)aryl-2-(2′-thienyl)pyrroles using TCNE. The tricyanovinyl-derivatives display dramatic reductions in both their optical and electrochemical band gaps relative to thienylpyrrole precursors . The solvatochromic behavior of compounds was investigated in a variety of solvents. Hyper-Rayleigh scattering was used to measure the first hyperpolarizabilities β of the mentioned compounds. The β values show that the new compounds prepared could be used on the manufacture of materials with good non-linear (NLO) properties.