Synthesis and computational studies of new metallo-phthalocyanines bearing dibenzoxanthenes and evaluation of their optical properties in solution and solid PMMA/ZnPc/Al nanocomposite films

Abstract

New thermally stable metallo-phthalocyanines bearing dibenzoxanthenes as highly organo-solubilizing aromatic hydrocarbon substituents were successfully prepared by cyclotetramerization of corresponding phthalonitriles with anhydrous metal salts [Zn(CH$_{3}$COO)$_{2}$ and NiCl$_{2}$] in the presence of a catalytic amount of DBU in 2-(dimethylamino) ethanol. All of these phthalocyanines are soluble in some organic solvents such as DMF, DMSO, THF, CH$_{2}$Cl$_{2}$, and CHCl$_{3}$. Then we successfully prepared the poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)/ZnPc/Al nanocomposite films by incorporating Al nanoparticles into a transparent PMMA/ZnPc matrix. The structure and morphology of nanocomposite films were studied using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. The optical absorption spectra of PMMA/ZnPc/Al nanocomposite films showed red shifting in the Q-band in the polymeric matrix. The geometrical structure of two phthalocyanines was investigated at the RHF/3-21G* computational level.