Research Article Adv. Mat. Lett. 2010, 1(2), 148-150 ADVANCED MATERIALS Letters Adv. Mat. Lett. 2010, 1(2), 148-150 Copyright © 2010 VBRI press. www.amlett.com, DOI: 10.5185/amlett.2010.5126 Published online by the VBRI press in 2010 Synthesis of highly soluble phthalocyanine from a new phthalonitrile under mild conditions Surya Prakash Singh a* , Saim Emin a and Alexandre Loukanov b a Advanced Photovoltaics Center, National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba 305-0047, Japan b Department of Engineering Geoecology, University of Minning and Geology, Sofia, Bulgaria * Corresponding author. Tel: (+81) 29 859 2305; Fax: (+81) 29 859 2386; E-mail: singhspiict@gmail.com Received: 31 May 2010, Revised: 05 June 2010 and Accepted: 06 June 2010 ABSTRACT Novel syntheses of zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc) are achieved by exploring our hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS) method. Reactions are clean and efficient by replacing harmful and strongly smelling triethylamine with HMDS. The compound is highly soluble in organic solvents and can be used as a donor material for organic thin film photovoltaic solar cells. Copyright © 2010 VBRI press. Keywords: Phtalocyanine, phtalonitrile, hexamethyldisilazane, photovoltaics. Surya Prakash Singh studied chemistry at the University of Allahabad, India, and obtained his PhD in 2005. Later, he joined Indian Institute of Chemical Technology as research associate. After working at Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan, in the group of Prof. Takeshi Toru, as a postdoctoral fellow (2006-2008), he joined the group of Prof. Nobuaki Kambe, Osaka University, in 2008 as an Assistant Professor. Currently, he is MANA researcher at the Advanced Photovoltaic Solar Cell Division, National Institute for Materials Science, Japan. His research interests include new organometallic reactions, heteroatom chemistry, donor–acceptor dyes, and metal complexes for applications in organic solar cells, fullerene chemistry and interdisciplinary work in chemistry. Saim Emin is researcher at the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Japan. He obtained Bachelor degree (2003) from Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. He received Master (Physical Chemistry, 2007) and PhD degree (2010) from Saitama University, Japan. His main area of research is nanotechnology related to renewable energy. Alexandre Loukanov is Assistant Professor of biochemistry and environmental biotechnology at the University of Mining and Geology “St. Ivan Rilksi”, Bulgaria. He obtained Bachelor (2003) and Master (Nanotechnology, 2005) degree from Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Bulgaria and PhD degree (Physiology, 2009) at Okazaki Institute for Integrative Bioscience, Japan. His major research interests are in the field of applied nanobiotechnology. Introduction Phthalocyanines (Pc’s) are a very versatile class of heteroaromatic compound, and are well-known as one of the most important classes of industrial dye and pigment materials [1]. Recent advances in synthetic methods and chromatographic separation techniques have made possible a wide range of new Pc derivatives with different skeletons and substituents. Consequently, a variety of functionalized Pc derivatives have now become available, and their spectroscopic and electrochemical properties have been studied extensively in order to develop these for a wide variety of applications such as organic conductors, chemical sensors, photodynamic therapy, catalysts, liquid crystal displays and information storage devices [1-3]. Recent academic developments of Pc analogues have also been reviewed in several papers and books [1-8]. Related aromatic macrocycles of phthalocyanines are also intensively studied due to their unique structural and photo physical properties that make them attractive compounds for technological applications [9-13]. Hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS) is a cheap and commercially available reagent. Its handling does not need special precaution and the work up of the reaction mixture is not time consuming. This reagent has been used for silylation of various alcohols in the presence of trimethylchlorosilane [14], sulfonic acids [15], amines, and trimethylsilylated amides such as saccharin [16]. Moreover, HMDS is very useful in synthesis of phtalocyanines as demonstrated in previous studies [17,18]. Here we reexamined the conventional reaction conditions of phthalocyanines with triethylamine and contemplated important changes to make the reaction clean