Physicochemical properties of a zinc phthalocyanine – pyrene conjugate adsorbed onto single walled carbon nanotubes

Abstract

A conjugate between zinc monoamino phthalocyanine (ZnMAPc) and pyrene (Py) represented as ZnMAPc–Py (complex 3) was synthesized and characterized by various spectroscopic techniques and by elemental analysis. This manuscript also reports on the photochemical and photophysical properties of 3. This new compound exhibited higher triplet, fluorescence and singlet oxygen quantum yields in comparison to the phthalocyanine alone, hence showing the advantages of attaching pyrene to the Pc without breaking the conjugation. We also observed a decrease in photophysical parameters upon adsorbing the ZnMAPc–Py complex onto single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT). However, ZnMAPc–Py still generated some singlet oxygen when adsorbed onto SWCNT.