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One of the key issues in the development of efficient optical limiters is the search for appropriate materials with improved nonlinear absorption. Phthalocyanine materials are among the most promising nonlinear absorbers described in the literature. Ethynyl and butadiynyl-bridged bisphthalocyanines and related ethynyl-containing mononuclear compounds have been synthesized and experimentally studied using the z-scan technique with nanosecond pulses at 532 nm. We intend to ascertain the effect of the electronic interaction between macrocycles in the optical limiting performance of phthalocyanines.

New π-extended discotic liquid crystals based on heptacyclic triindole have been synthesized and their mesomorphic behaviour investigated. The synthesis of π-extended compounds was carried out by oxidative cyclodehydrogenation of differently substituted star-shaped hexaaryltriindoles to afford the planar derivatives with an extended core. Extending the conjugation in these materials results in a significant increase in the order and range of the mesophases. The influence of the peripherally attached groups in the mesomorphic and electronic properties offers a great opportunity to further tune the properties of these compounds intended to their incorporation in devices. © 2011 The Royal Society of Chemistry., Financial support from the MEC CTQ 2009-09030, CTQ2010- 18813 and the CAM (Project S2009/MAT-1756/CAM), is gratefully acknowledged.