Molecular engineering of peripherally and axially modified phthalocyanines for optical limiting and nonlinear optics

Phthalocyanines have remarkable chemical and thermal stability and offer tremendous architectural flexibility in their structure, facilitating the tailoring of physical, optoelectronic, and chemical parameters. In this paper, we summarize experimental measurements of nonlinear optical adsorption in a comprehensive representative series of modified phthalocyanines substituted with various central metals and peripheral functional groups. Rate equations are used to analytically solve the static-state conditions that simulate the excited-state dynamics that result from the nonlinear excited-state adsorption, and this solution is fitted to the experimental data. General molecular engineering trends relating the optical limiting performance of these compounds to their structural characteristics are also explored and discussed.