The first two phthalocyanines bearing four fused imidazole rings on the per
iphery have been prepared. The synthesis, though a conventional one, has re
quired the preparation of 5,6-dicyanobenzimidazoles. The novel phthalocyani
nes show lambda(max) at about 715 nm. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons,
Ltd.