Six symmetrical ferrocenyl Schiff base materials were synthesized and characterized by UV, H-1 NMR, mass spectrometry (MS) and elemental analysis. Their off-resonant third-order nonlinear optical properties were measured using femtosecond laser and degenerate four-wave mixing (DFWM) technique. The third-order nonlinear optical susceptibilities chi((3)) were 1.961-6.363 x 10(-13) esu. The nonlinear refractive indexes n(2) were 3.609-11.716 x 10(-12) esu. The second-order hyperpolarizabilities gamma of these molecules were 1.967-6.388 x 10(-31) esu. The response time were 45.759-73.079 fs. The results indicate that these materials have potential nonlinear optical applications. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.