Coordination Chemistry of Phthalocyanine and Fullerene Complexes

The coordination chemistry of phthalocyanines and fullerenes has emerged as a rich field at the interface of inorganic, materials and supramolecular chemistry. Phthalocyanines, with their planar, highly conjugated macrocycles, readily support metal-centre insertion and redox activity, enabling tailor-made electronic and magnetic properties. When coordinated to transition or main-group metals, these complexes exhibit pronounced optical absorption in the visible and near-infrared regions, stable radical or dianionic states and adjustable frontier‐orbital energies. Fullerenes such as C₆₀ and C₇₀, by contrast, offer curved π-surfaces that can accept electrons to form persistent radical anions. Their coordination to metal centres or π-donor ligands yields charge‐transfer assemblies and supramolecular arrays with unique photophysical and redox behaviours. When phthalocyanines and fullerenes are brought together, either covalently or through non-covalent interactions, synergistic effects arise: directional π–π stacking, charge separation and recombination dynamics are finely controllable, fostering applications in organic photovoltaics, molecular electronics, spintronics and catalysis. Advances in synthetic design—ranging from bulky substituents to dendritic scaffolds—have improved solubility, prevented aggregation and modulated inter‐macrocycle interactions. Crystal engineering has elucidated how counter-ion choice and redox state affect lattice arrangements and magnetic exchange. Collectively, this area harnesses the complementary properties of flat and curved π‐systems to create multifunctional materials with global significance in energy conversion, data storage and biomedical imaging.

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Coordination Chemistry of Phthalocyanine and Fullerene Complexes publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in coordination chemistry of phthalocyanine and fullerene complexes across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Phthalocyanine: A large, planar, aromatic macrocycle that coordinates metals in its central cavity, notable for strong absorption in the visible region.

Fullerene: A spherical or ellipsoidal carbon allotrope (e.g., C₆₀, C₇₀) capable of accepting electrons to form stable radical anions.

Coordination complex: A structure in which a central metal atom or ion binds to ligands via coordinate covalent bonds.

π–π stacking: Non-covalent attractive interactions between aromatic rings that arrange them in parallel or offset geometries.

Radical anion: A negatively charged species bearing an unpaired electron, often stabilised in conjugated organic systems.

Charge-transfer complex: An assembly formed when electron donation from a donor ligand to an acceptor leads to new optical and magnetic phenomena.

Antiferromagnetic coupling: A magnetic interaction in which adjacent spins align in opposite directions, resulting in no net magnetisation.

References

1. Synthesis, X‑ray Structures, and Optical and Magnetic Properties of Cu(II) Octafluoro-octakisperfluoro(isopropyl)phthalocyanine: The Effects of Electron Addition and Fluorine Accretion. Inorganic Chemistry (2023).
2. Charge transfer complexes of fullerenes containing C 60 ˙ − and C 70 ˙ − radical anions with paramagnetic Co II (dppe) 2 Cl + cations (dppe: 1,2-bis(diphenylphosphino)ethane). Dalton Transactions (2016).