A series of "push-pull" salts substituted with an electron-donating bis(
N,N-dimethyl)aniline unit and different electron-withdrawing methyl orchelating pyridinium units have been designed and synthesized
from Michler's ketone. The spectroscopic and electronic properties wereinvestigated and compared to their DAST homologues. The studies revealed that a lower HOMO-LUMO gap is obtained in all cases, showingthe ability of our donor to increase the "push-pull" effect. Two chromophores with a terpyridine as acceptor end group have also beenprepared.