Synthesis and physicochemical behavior of new low symmetry Ge, Ti and Sn phthalocyanines: Effect of central metal

The synthesis and photophysicochemical properties of new low symmetrically Ge, Sn and Ti phthalocyanines substituted with one carboxy containing group are reported. Broading and splitting in the absorption spectra were observed for some of the complexes in particular for both the titanium Pcs due to loss of symmetry. Higher fluorescence quantum yields and lifetimes were obtained for the Pcs substituted with three benzyloxy (5–7) compared to their corresponding counterparts substituted with six 2-diethylaminoethylthiol groups (9–11). The germanium Pc complexes gave the highest triplet and singlet oxygen quantum yields compared to all the other complexes studied in DMF. All the complexes showed reasonable ability to generate singlet oxygen with quantum yields ranging from 0.54 to 0.69.