Ordered and disordered pNA molecules in mesoporous MCM-41

Para-nitroaniline (pNA) has been incorporated into the one-dimensional channels of mesoporous MCM-41, the hexagonal member of the M41S family of ordered mesoporous silicate materials. The composite material shows a number of remarkable features, depending on the sorption procedure for the organic component, the after treatment, and the annealing time of the composite. In X-ray diffraction experiments different states of one-dimensional ordering of the sorbate molecules in the channel pores are observed. In agreement with the molecular dipole, chain-like coherent domains with the long axis of the sorbate molecule parallel as well as perpendicular to the host channel axis show up. In aged samples the periodic ordering of the pNA molecules is lost, and nonlinear optical properties of the composite have been measured in second harmonic generation experiments indicating the presence of a polar direction in the sample.