Tuning nonlinear optical and optoelectronic properties of vinyl coupled triazene chromophores: a density functional theory and time-dependent density functional theory investigation

Triazenes are a unique class of polyazo compounds containing three consecutive nitrogen atoms in an acyclic arrangement and are promising NLO candidates. In the present work, a series of 15 donor-π-acceptor type vinyl coupled triazene derivatives (VCTDs) with different acceptors (-NO(2), -CN, and -COOH) have been designed, and their structure, nonlinear response, and optoelectronic properties have been studied using density functional theory and time-dependent density functional theory methods. B3LYP/6-311g(d,p) optimized geometries of the designed candidates show delocalization from the acceptor to donor through a π-bridge. Molecular orbital composition analysis reveals that HOMO is stabilized by the π-bridge, whereas acceptors play a major role in the stabilization of LUMO. Among the three acceptors, nitro derivatives are found to be efficient NLO candidates, and tri- and di-substituted cyano and carboxylic acid derivatives also show reasonably good NLO response. The effect of solvation on these properties has been studied using PCM calculations. From TDDFT calculations, the computed absorption spectra of these candidates lie in the range of 350-480 nm in the gas phase and have positive solvatochromism. The ground-state stabilization interactions are accounted from NBO calculations. In an effort to substantiate the thermal stability of the designed candidates, computations have been done to identify the weak interactions in the systems through NCI and AIM analysis. In summary, 10 out of 15 designed candidates are found to have excellent NLO and optoelectronic properties.