SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF NEW POLYMERS EXHIBITING LARGE OPTICAL NONLINEARITIES .1. LADDER POLYMERS FROM 3,6-DISUBSTITUTED 2,5-DICHLOROQUINONE AND TETRAAMINOBENZENE

Ladder polymers were synthesized from 3,6-disubstituted 2,5-dichloroquinones and tetraaminobenzene. The precursor to these polymers can be dissolved in organic solvents such as DMF, DMSO, and DMA. This solubility permits convenient processing of polymers into thin films which can subsequently be converted to fully fused-ring ladder polymers by thermal treatment, the final ladder polymers exhibited exceptional thermal stability (as determined by TGA) and laser damage thresholds in excess of 1 GW/cm2. Degenerate four-wave-mixing measurements on these ladder polymers yielded third-order susceptibilities as high as 1.6 X 10-9 esu, which is one of the highest values observed for an amorphous material. © 1990, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.