In this talk we will present our efforts in crystal engineering with two classes of compounds, namely trans-A2D2-porphyrins and trigonal metal carboxylate clusters. We will discuss our work on a new class of nonlinear optical materials; these materials have octupolar distribution of charges. We will discuss the synthesis of these octupolar materials with trigonal and cubic symmetries using organic and metal-organic building blocks. One of the challenges in octupolar NLO has been the synthesis of cubic octupoles. We developed a modular strategy in which we imagine a cube to be a dimer of squares. Using porphyrin molecules as square units, we demonstrate the synthesis of molecules with cubic geometry. We will discuss the synthesis of trigonal metal-carboxylate clusters and their solid state structures for use in octupolar NLO. Our work in this area led us to find materials that can be potentially used for molecular storage, molecular magnetism, and two photon absorption.
Back to Organic Chemistry Session I
Back to The 33rd Northeast Regional Meeting (July 14-17, 2005)