New soluble 4-(4-formyl-2,6-dimethoxyphenoxy) substituted phthalocyanines: Synthesis, characterization, photophysical and photochemical properties

This work describes the synthesis, spectral and fluorescence properties of bis 4-(4-formyl-2,6-dimethoxyphenoxy) substituted zinc (ZnPc) and magnesium (MgPc) phthalocyanines. The new compounds have been characterized by elemental analysis, UV-Vis, FT-IR, H-1-NMR and mass spectra. Afterward, the effects of including metal ion on the photophysicochemical properties of the complexes were studied in biocompatible solvent DMSO to analyze their potential to use as a photosensitizer in photodynamic therapy (PDT). The fluorescence and singlet oxygen quantum yields were calculated as 0.04-0.15 and 0.70-0.52 for ZnPc and MgPc, respectively. According to the results, MgPc has higher fluorescence quantum yield than ZnPc, while ZnPc has higher singlet oxygen quantum yield than MgPc. The results show that the synthesized complexes can have therapeutic outcomes for cancer treatment.