The Anisotropic Polarizability of a few Aromatic Hydrocarbons

Abstract

Abstract For sufficiently symmetric molecules without a permanent electric dipole moment, it is shown that refractive indices, Kerr constants and electrooptical absorption measurements in suitable non-polar solvents can be utilized to determine the components αcgx, αgy, αgz of the polarizability tensor of solute molecules in the electronic ground state. Since the required quantities are avail-able for anthracene, tetracene, perylene and bianthryl, an evaluation of the polarizability tensor components is made possible. In solutions where the solvent molecules possess a permanent electric dipole moment or a sufficiently large quadrupole moment, as for example benzene, the fluctuations of the reaction field cause a contribution to the Kerr constant which may be an essential reason for its solvent dependence.