Second Hyperpolarizability of Zethrenes

We report a study on the static second hyperpolarizabilities (γ) of zethrenes using the UBHandHLYP hybrid density functional theory method. Though zethrenes were originally considered as closed-shell systems, the values of their diradical characters, calculated from the occupation numbers of spin-unrestricted Hartree-Fock natural orbitals (UNOs), demonstrate an open-shell diradical nature, which increases with the size of the middle ring region because of the recovery of the aromaticity in that region. As references, we examine also the γ values of tetrabenzopolyacenes, which are regarded as the corresponding closed-shell systems due to their negligible diradical characters. It is found that the longitudinal γ values for zethrenes are much larger than those of the corresponding reference closed-shell systems, whereas their ratio, γ(zethrene)/γ(reference), is reduced when increasing the length of middle ring regions, i.e., when increasing the diradical character.