S. Steinbrecher et al., Unit cell determination of 2,3,9,10,16,17,23,24-octapentoxyphthalocyanine and its nickel derivative using electron and X-ray powder diffraction, J PORPHYR P, 4(1), 2000, pp. 10-18
2,3,9,10,16,17,23,24-Octapentoxyphthalocyanine and its nickel derivative ha
ve been studied by means of electron and X-ray powder diffraction. The resu
lts reveal that the metal-free compound forms monoclinic crystals (space gr
oup C2/c) with unit cell constants a = 4.202 nm, b = 0.4977 nm, c = 3.345 n
m, beta = 98.9 degrees and Z = 4 molecules per unit cell. 2,3,9,10,16,17,23
,24-Octapentoxyphthalocyaninatonickel(II) is likely to be isomorphous to it
s metal-free analogue, but occurs in a second phase which is also stable at
room temperature. This is identified to be a crystalline primitive hexagon
al phase with cell constants a = b = 2.50 nm and c = 0.33 nm. It is assumed
that the molecules form a columnar structure along the c-axis, whereas the
hexagonal cross-section in the ab-plane goes back to the molecular disc sh
ape. Imaging of monoclinic crystals of 2,3,9,10,16,17,23,24-octapentoxyphth
alocyanine in an energy-filtering transmission electron microscope (EFTEM)
can be performed to resolve 2 nm structures only, owing to specimen damage.
According to the diffraction pattern, the micrograph provides a view along
[001] and shows directly that the structure can be described in terms of p
arallel columnar stacks of molecules along the b-axis, the distance between
neighbouring stacks being 1/2a. The results show that the structures of bo
th the metal-free compound and its nickel analogue are dominated by pi-pi i
nteractions between the macrocycles, which is a marked difference from the
structures of 1,4,8,11,15,18,22,25-octasubstituted phthalocyanines. Copyrig
ht (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.