It has been shown that the base-initiated cyclo-oligomerisation of phthalonitriles is favoured by bulky α-substituents making it possible to obtain the metal-free phthalocyanine directly and in high yield. The phthalocyanine with eight α-isoheptyl substituents gives a high time-of-flight hole mobility of 0.14 cm2·V−1·s−1 within the temperature range of the columnar hexagonal phase, that is 169–189 °C.
A number of novel carbonyl(1,4,8,11,15,18,22,25-octaalkylphthalocyaninato)-ruthenium(II) complexes were prepared by metal insertion with Ru3(CO)12. The new compounds have been characterized by1H NMR,13C NMR, IR, UV-vis and mass spectroscopy. This study demonstrated that this type of complexes and specifically carbonyl(1,4,8,11,15,18,22,25-octahexylphthalo-cyaninato)ruthenium(II) and carbonyl[1,4,8,11,15,18,22,25-octa(2-cyclohexylethyl)phthalocyaninato]-ruthenium(II), exhibit high catalytic activity and stability in the epoxidation of stilbenes with 2,6-dichloropyridine N-oxide as oxidant.