A new method for the synthesis of zinc tetrakis-(3-methylpyridyloxy)phthalocyanine and the physical properties of dimers formed by complexation of the cationic phthalocyanine with anionic porphyrins

Face-to-face heterodimers have been obtained by pairing a cationic phthalocyanine with two different anionic, metal-free and manganese(III) porphyrins. Different behaviour has been observed for the spectroscopic and fluorescence properties of the dimers. For the manganese(III) porphyrin–phthalocyanine system, the intracyclic interaction is found to be weak. On the other hand, for the metalfree porphyrin–phthalocyanine system, a very strong interaction exists, which leads to a charge-separated species, (porphyrin)––(phthalocyanine)+.