The growth of information technology, which has spurred the development of the electronics and computer hardware industries, has led to the search for the best materials that can facilitate information transfer. Research in modern chemistry attempts to find materials that can act as superior switches and transistors. One of the most exciting yet challenging fields of research is the design and synthesis of multifunctional compounds that have desirable and predictable properties of luminescence, transport of information, catalytic activity and macroscopic ordering in mesophase.

Dr. Yamuna in her lab

Porphyrin-based electronic materials have attracted much attention because of their unusual electro-optical and nonlinear optical behaviour. Well-designed porphyrin derivatives can act as molecular switches and be used to make photoelectric devices. In addition, photonic materials have also attracted attention due to their property of light-induced phase transitions. Both materials have a lot of potential for applications in information processing and technology. In this study, a material with a novel azo-Schiff base that contains porphyrins will be studied. This will be the first study of its kind in India.

Among the large numbers of porphyrins that have specific patterns of substituents, meso-substituted porphyrins have been studied closely. Some molecular systems containing porphyrin and based on azo have also been studied with azo linked in the axial or meso positions of the porphyrin, but there have been no reported studies about porphyrin linked to both azo and Schiff bases. Preliminary results indicate that a material with the said configuration holds much promise. This study will initiate research into the properties of a porphyrin with a azo-Schiff base. The project is funded for three years.