Phthalocyanine - Properties

Properties

Unsubstituted phthalocyanine, abbreviated H₂Pc, and many of its complexes have very low solubility in organic solvents. Benzene at 40 °C dissolves less than a milligram of H₂Pc or CuPc per litre. H₂Pc or CuPc dissolve easily in sulfuric acid due to the protonation of the nitrogen atoms bridging the pyrrole rings. Many phthalocyanine compounds are thermally very stable, do not melt but can be sublimed, CuPc sublimes at >500 °C under inert gases (nitrogen, CO₂). Substituted phthalocyanine complexes often have much higher solubility. They are less thermally stable and often can not be sublimed. Unsubstituted phthalocyanines strongly absorb light between 600 and 700 nm, thus these materials are blue or green. Substitution can shift the absorption towards longer wavelengths, changing the color from pure blue to green to colorless (when the absorption is in the near infrared).

Phthalocyanines are structurally related to other macrocyclic pigments, especially the porphyrins. Both feature four pyrrole-like subunits linked to form a 16-membered ring. The pyrrole-like rings within H₂Pc are closely related to isoindole. Both porphyrins and phthalocyanines function as planar tetradentate dianionic ligands that bind metals through four inwardly projecting nitrogen centers. Such complexes are formally derivatives of Pc2−, the conjugate base of H₂Pc.

Many derivatives of the parent phthalocyanine are known, where either carbon atoms of the macrocycle are exchanged for nitrogen atoms or where the hydrogen atoms of the ring are substituted by functional groups like halogens, hydroxy, amino, alkyl, aryl, thiol, alkoxy, nitro, etc. groups.