First theoretical probe for efficient enhancement of nonlinear optical properties of quinacridone based compounds through various modifications

In this study, first attempt has been made for theoretical designing of quinacridone (QA) dye and new QA-based compounds (QA-1 to QA-9) were proposed by installing auxiliary donors (dimethylvinyl, methoxy, and N,N-dimethylamine), donor (diphenylamine) and acceptors (cyanoacrylic acid, CN and NO₂) segments into fixed π-bridge QA. DFT and TDDFT calculations with B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) and CAM-B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) functional were used to shed light on the promising structure, charge transport and NLO properties. Introduction of auxiliary donors/donor and acceptor successfully modified the structure which led to superior NLO properties. An eye-catching NLO response was observed in all designed compounds. Interestingly, QA-9 exhibits appealingly large enhancement in NLO properties through ICT process with <α> and β_tot computed to be 716.02 (a.u) and 128082.15 (a.u) respectively. UV–Vis results indicates the QA-9 most red shifted among all studied compounds with λ_max = 489.02 nm. QA-1 to QA-9 showed narrow HOMO-LUMO energy gap as compared to QA which results in enhanced NLO response. NBO analysis confirms the formation of charge separation state in QA-1 to QA-9 due to successful migration of electrons from auxiliary donors/donor to acceptors via π-bridge. The present research evokes the scientific interest regarding the development of QA based tempting NLO compounds that can be beneficial in modern hi-tech applications.