Novel pendant azobenzene/polymer systems for second harmonic generation and optical data storage

New poly(methyl methacrylate)s bearing push–pull azo-moieties, with the azo-dye content ranging from 31 wt% to 100 wt%, are synthesized by (co)polymerization of a methacrylamide-based azo-monomer. The high reactivity of the colored monomer allowed well-balanced structures to be achieved, characterized by a suitable thermal stability. The second harmonic generation efficiency of the poled samples is investigated by means of the SHG Maker fringes setup. Features that hinder the translation of the azo-moiety optical nonlinearity in the material at the macroscopic level are debated. The results underline the role of chromophore–chromophore and chromophore–polymer interactions on the alignment of the azo-moieties. The polarity of the polymer matrix is proven to influence the chromophore–chromophore interactions. Two-photon absorption is employed for gray scale encoding of second harmonic signals on poled thin films, thus pointing out the possibility to employ these new materials for optical data storage applications.

Thiol-ene chemistry of vegetable oils and their derivatives under UV and air: a model study by using infrared spectroscopy and mass spectrometry

International audienceHerein, a model study of the photoinitiated thiol–ene reaction was carried out on unsaturated fatty methyl esters at room temperature and without photoinitiator. Reaction kinetics were monitored by FTIR spectroscopy and reaction products were identified by high resolution mass spectrometry coupled to ion mobility spectrometry. This set of analytical tools enabled us to highlight the concomitance of fatty double bond oxidation and thiol–ene addition when such a formulation was exposed to UV radiation. Indeed, thiol–ene adducts were identified on fatty moieties oxidized or not, without prevalence of one reaction over the other: photoinitiated thiol–ene addition could occur on preoxidized products, and photooxidation could occur on thiol–ene adducts. However, the presence of oxidized fatty products such as peroxides and zwitterionic species was proved to be favourable to the photocrosslinking of fatty coatings by thiol–ene addition