Propeller-shaped molecules with giant off-resonance optical nonlinearities

Propeller-shaped molecules based on a triphenylbenzene crux bearing three oligomeric phenylenevinylene branches have been designed; very large first-order hyperpolarisabilities (up to ∥β∥ = 800 10−30 esu) were obtained while maintaining wide transparency in the visible region by taking advantage and boosting of intramolecular charge transfer between the centre and the periphery.