High-performance liquid chromatography of metal tetra-4-tert-butylphthalocyanines

The chromatographic behavior of tetra-4-tert-butylphthalocynine; its 1 : 1 complexes of Zn(II), Cu(II), Mg(II), Ni(II), Pd(TI), Co(II), Rh(III), and S n(IV); 1 : 2 complexes of LU(III), Dy(III), and Tb(III); and a linear dimer of copper hexa-4-tert-butyldiphthalocyanine were studied on hydrophobized, aminated, and unmodified silica gels. The retention of the above complexes was studied as a function on the composition of the mobile phase, the natu re of the metal atom, the number of macrocycles in the ligand, and the leng th of the chromatographic column. It was shown that hydrophobized silica ge ls with acetone, acetonitrile-acetate (1 : 1), methanol-ethyl acetate (1 : 1), and dimethylformamide mobile phases are the most selective systems for determining the purity of the phthalocyanines. For each compound, an indivi dual, usually symmetrical peak was observed. The parameters of these peaks can be used for the rapid identification and sensitive determination of the compounds studied. The detection limits were at a level of n x 10(-8) M.