Novel phthalocyanines with pentafluorobenzyloxy-substituents

The synthesis of pentafluorobenzyloxy substituted metal-free phthalocyanine 4 was achieved by co-cyclotetramerization of 4-(2′,3′,4′,5′,6′-pentafluorobenzyloxy)phthalonitrile (3) with hydroquinone, whereas metallophthalocyanines (MPcs) 5–7 were synthesized in the presence of zinc, cobalt or nickel salts. The compounds were characterized by their elemental analyses, UV–vis, FT-IR, 1H NMR, 19F NMR and mass spectroscopic methods.