New Analogues of the BODIPY Dye PM597 : Photophysical and Lasing Properties in Liquid Solutions and in Solid Polymeric Matrices

New tailormade BODIPY dyes have been synthesized by a simple protocol to reach wavelength finely tunable laser action from 540 to 625 nm while maintaining highly efficient and photostable laser emission. The new dyes are analogues of the commercial dye PM597 with the eight position free (PTH8) or substituted by the groups acetoxymethyl (PTAlk) or p-acetoxymethylphenyl (PTAr). The photophysical properties strongly depend on the geometrical distortion from planarity of the indacene core generated by the presence of the bulky 2,6-di-tert-butyl groups and the eight substituent. In both liquid and polymeric solid solutions, lasing efficiencies of up to 63 and 48%, respectively, were observed under transversal pumping at 532 nm with high photostabilities. In the case of PTAlk incorporated into silicon-containing solid organic matrices, the laser emission remained at 92% of its initial intensity value after 100 000 pumping pulses in the same position of the sample at 30 Hz repetition rate. The laser action of the new dyes enhances that of the parent dye PM597 and outperforms the lasing behavior of dyes considered to be benchmarks over the green-yellow to red spectral region.