Synthesis and photophysical behavior of axially substituted phthalocyanine, tetrabenzotriazaporphyrin, and triazatetrabenzcorrole phosphorous complexes

The synthesis of phosphorous phthalocyanines, triazatetrabenzcorroles, and tetrabenzotriazaporphyrins with a variety of axial ligands is reported. The new complexes are: phosphorous dihydroxy tetrabenzotriazaporphyrin (5, PV(OH)2TBTAP), diphenyl phosphorous phthalocyanine (6, [PV(Ph)2Pc](OH)), diphenyl phosphorous triazatetrabenzcorrole (7, PV(Ph)2TBC), and dioctyl phosphorous triazatetrabenzcorrole (8, PV(C8H17)2TBC). The complexes are not aggregated in dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) and pyridine. Upon axial coordination of a phenyl or octyl group, the complexes are soluble (and not aggregated) in dichloromethane (DCM) and tetrahydrofuran (THF). The triplet lifetimes range from 395 to 546 μs (for complexes 5 to 8), with the P(Ph)2TBC (7) complex showing the longest triplet lifetime (546 μs), while the smallest triplet quantum yield (ΦT= 0.27) was obtained for the [P(Ph)2Pc](OH) (6) complex. [P(OH)2Pc](OH) (3) showed the shortest triplet lifetime (113 μs) and the largest triplet quantum yield (ΦT= 0.52).