Preparation and photoactivity of thermosensitive polymer supported metallophthalocyanine

A novel reactive metallophthalocyanine derivative, zinc tetra(2,4-dichloro-1,3,5-triazine)aminophthalocyanine (Zn-TDTAPc), was prepared and immobilized on poly( N -isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm) by covalent bonding to obtain a thermosensitive polymer (Zn-TDTAPc-g-PNIPAAm). Compared with zinc tetraaminophthalocyanine (Zn-TAPc), Zn-TDTAPc-g-PNIPAAm exhibits excellent solubility in water and in most organic solvents. Furthermore, it has a special thermosensitive property in water and the lower critical solution temperature (LCST) is 34.1°C. It was found that both dissolved and precipitated Zn-TDTAPc-g-PNIPAAm present high photoactivity evidenced by the experiment of photocatalytic degradation of 1, 3-diphenylisobenzofuran (DPBF) in the presence of Zn-TDTAPc-g-PNIPAAm. These properties suggest that it can be used potentially in photodynamic therapy (PDT).