Using Hydrogen Bonds to Design Acentric Organic Materials for Nonlinear Optical Users

Abstract

Second order non-linear optical (NLO) effects, such as second harmonic generation, occur only in materials that are acentric. Finding ways to assure that a bulk material is acentric has been a serious hurdle in the design of new organic materials for non-linear optical uses.¹ A trivial, albeit useful, solution to the symmetry problem is to use chiral molecules which necessarily crystallize in acentric structures.² The general solution to the problem involves understanding how to promote self-assembly of molecules, regardless of their molecular symmetry, into acentric arrays. We have found a partial answer to the asymmetric self-assembly question using intermolecular hydrogen bonds.