Supramolecular phthalocyanine assemblies — a Linstead Career Award paper

Abstract

In this review I summarize our attempts to prepare supramolecular assemblies from phthalocyanine dyes, the objective being to design functional materials that have specific properties, [Formula: see text] electron conduction. We explore several supramolecular methods to achieve phthalocyanine assembly, [Formula: see text] by attaching crown ethers to the phthalocyanine rings and combining these with alkali metal ions, by providing them with long aliphatic tails, and by using aided assembly techniques such as wetting-dewetting interactions on surfaces. Also, chirality has been applied as a tool to produce new self-assembled structures. In our studies we focus on the electron conducting properties of the molecular materials and on their use as alignment layers for the fabrication of liquid-crystal displays.