NLO active Pd(II)-based organometallic side-chain polymers with C,N or N,O-chelating chromophoric ligands

Three organometallic homopolymers and three copolymers have been obtained, by reacting, respectively, cyclopalladated dinuclear complexes with a polymeric backbone, and by radical copolymerization of cyclopalladated acrylic monomers and methyl methacrylate. Taking into account thermal behaviour and solubility, the copolymers, which display good second order nonlinear optical activity, seem to be the most promising for applications within the new metallated macromolecules. Macroscopic nonlinear optical coefficients d33 have been determined on spin-coated corona-poled thin films by means of Second Harmonic Generation (SHG) measurements at the wavelength of 1064 nm.