GRAFTING POLY(4-VINYLPYRIDINE) WITH SECOND ORDER NONLINEAR OPTICALLY ACTIVE NICKEL(II) CHROMOPHORE

Metal-containing polymers are obtained by grafting com. poly(4-vinylpyridine) (av. mol. wt. 60,000 or 160,000) with a NiII chromophore complex. The metal-containing chromophore was obtained from a tridentate benzoylhydrazine ligand. Chromophore fragments were grafted onto the polymer by formation of a coordinative bond between the metal and the pyridinic nitrogen. Two acentric mononuclear NiII complexes contg. pyridine as an additional ligand, in a square-planar or in an octahedral environment, were prepared and characterized also by single-crystal x-ray analysis. The chemical and thermal properties of the model complexes and of the grafted polymers were examined and compared with those of CuII- and PdII-based ones, in particular with reference to their NLO properties.