Oxidative drying properties of a helmet pentadentate phthalocyanine-derived iron(III) complex

[Display omitted] •Structural reassignment of a hexaisoindoline Fe(III) complex into a phthalocyanine-derived Fe(III) one.•It has a high catalytic activity on the oxidation of FAMEs and on the decomposition of hydroperoxides.•It induces good hardness and low yellowing of a paint film. The structure of a hexaisoindoline iron(III) complex reported in 1962 was corrected as the one of a recently described helmet phthalocyanine-like iron(III) complex. Accordingly, its catalytic activities were compared to commercial Co(II) and Fe(II) driers towards the oxidation of bulk FAMEs through oxygen uptake measurements and by ATR-FTIR spectroscopy, as well as its ability to decompose methyl linoleate hydroperoxides. It is shown that the phthalocyanine-like iron(III) complex presents higher catalytic performances at low concentrations and under mild conditions of temperature and pressure, both on the overall oxidation process and on the decomposition steps of the drying chemical process. The efficiency of the phthalocyanine-derived iron(III) complex was confirmed by the drying of an alkyd resin emulsion and a satin white paint formulation which exhibits a very good hardness and a low yellowing of the film.