Synthesis and solvent effects on the photophysicochemical properties of novel cadmium phenoxy phthalocyanines

The syntheses of novel cadmium phenoxy complexes; tetrakis{1,(4)-tert-butylphenoxyphthalocyaninato}cadmium(II) (5a), tetrakis{1,(4)-phenoxyphthalocyaninato}cadmium(II) (5b), tetrakis{2,(3)-tert-butylphenoxyphthalocyaninato}cadmium(II) (6a) and tetrakis{2,(3)-phenoxyphthalocyaninato}cadmium(II) (6b) are presented herein. The spectroscopic and photophysicochemical properties have also been carried out and discussed together with the influence of various organic solvents on these properties. Spectroscopic properties, i.e. ground state electronic absorption and fluorescence spectra have been found to vary as a function of substituent position on the phthalocyanine macrocycle, i.e. α-substitution versus β-substitution. The photophysical parameters are reported as well as the photodegradation and singlet oxygen quantum yields, where the complexes were found to exhibit good photostability with the production of appreciable amounts of singlet oxygen.