Synthesis and photophysical studies of phthalocyanine-gold nanoparticle conjugates

This work reports on the synthesis, characterization and photophysical studies of phthalocyanine-gold nanoparticle conjugates. The phthalocyanine complexes are: tris-(5-trifluoromethyl-2-mercaptopyridine)-2-(carboxy) phthalocyanine (3), 2,9,17,23-tetrakis-[(1, 6-hexanedithiol) phthalocyaninato]zinc(II) (8) and [8,15,22-tris-(naptho)-2(amidoethanethiol)phthalocyanato] zinc(II)(10). The gold nanoparticles were characterized using transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy and UV-vis spectroscopy where the size was confirmed to be similar to 5 nm. The phthalocyanine Au nanoparticle conjugates showed lower fluorescence quantum yield values with similar fluorescence lifetimes compared to the free phthalocyanines. The Au nanoparticle conjugates of 3 and 10 also showed higher triplet quantum yields of 0.69 to 0.71, respectively. A lower triplet quantum yield was obtained for the conjugate compared to free phthalocyanine for complex 8. The triplet lifetimes ranged from 70 to 92 mu s for the conjugates and from 110 to 304 mu s for unbound Pc complexes.