Synthesis, characterization, second and third order non-linear optical properties and luminescence properties of 1,10-phenanthroline-2,9-di(carboxaldehyde phenylhydrazone) and its transition metal complexes

The requirement for materials which exhibit good second and third order non-linear optical properties and also for materials which could sense metals in trace quantities has kindled renewed investigations. Organometallics and coordination compounds show a lot of promise as new NLO materials combining the variety of organic moieties with the strength and variable oxidation states of metals. Especially ligands which selectively detect industrial pollutants like Cd and biologically significant metals like Zn are necessary. In the current work the ligand 1,10-phenanthroline-2,9-di(carboxaldehyde phenylhydrazone) (L) and its Ni, Co, Fe, Zn, Cd and Ir complexes were synthesized. These were characterized by UV-Vis, FT-IR, H NMR, MS and CHN microanalysis techniques. The complexes were shown to have the formula [ML]. The second and third order NLO of the ligand and its complexes were recorded These new compounds were found to have same order of third order nonlinear optical susceptibility as that of CS and their second hyperpolarizability was an order of magnitude greater than that of C. Furthermore the ligand also displays selective luminescence sensing of metals ions Fe and Ir even in the presence of other metal ions.