Octathienyl/phenyl-substituted zinc phthalocyanines J-aggregated through conformational planarization

Dalton Trans. 2011 Jan 14;40(2):393-401. doi: 10.1039/c0dt01066a. Epub 2010 Nov 23.

Abstract

A novel family of thiophene-decorated phthalocyanines (M-TPcs) was efficiently synthesized, during which the key intermediate of these compounds was purified through a chemical approach. In the optimized geometries of M-TPcs, the peripherally linked thiophene rings are tilted from the Pc core, which oppose aggregation considering the mutual steric hindrance. However, Zn-TPc formed J-aggregates in many solvents while Ni-TPc and Cu-TPc did not. Octaphenyl-substituted zinc Pc (Zn-PPc) showed similar J-aggregation behavior as Zn-TPc. This unusual J-aggregation was attributed to the conformational planarization of the corresponding molecules.