Effect of bovine serum albumin and single walled carbon nanotube on the photophysical properties of zinc octacarboxy phthalocyanine

•A conjugate between zinc octacarboxy phthalocyanine and bovine serum albumin was formed.•The conjugate was adsorbed onto single walled carbon nanotubes.•The conjugate gave larger singlet oxygen quantum yields than the phthalocyanine alone.

This work reports on the photophysical parameters of the conjugate between zinc octacarboxy phthalocyanine (ZnOCPc) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) represented as ZnOCPc–BSA (1) which was further adsorbed onto single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) represented as (ZnOCPc–BSA–SWCNT 2). ZnOCPc (without BSA) was also adsorbed on SWCNT represented as ZnOCPc–SWCNT (3). The presence of BSA resulted in the increase in singlet oxygen quantum yield (ΦΔ) for 1 (at ΦΔ = 0.44) and 2 (at ΦΔ = 0.41) compared to ΦΔ = 0.21 for ZnOCPc alone. For complex 3 which did not contain BSA singlet oxygen quantum yield decreased.

Graphical abstractA conjugate between zinc octacarboxy phthalocyanine and bovine serum albumin was adsorbed onto single walled carbon nanotubes and resulted in improved singlet oxygen quantum yield when compared to the phthalocyanine in the absence of bovine serum albumin.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide