Quadruple-decker phthalocyanines — one additional layer for a molecule, one giant leap for phthalocyanine chemistry

The synthesis, and spectroscopic and magnetic properties of quadruple-decker phthalocyanines (Pcs) have been reviewed. While the presence of stacked mercury Pc oligomers was proposed as early as 1992, the isolation of a quadruple-decker Pc was first achieved in 2010. Herein, we review how the synthetic strategy for quadruple-decker Pcs has come to be conceived from the recent development of cadmium Pc oligomers, which will be followed by illustration of unique physicochemical properties originating from the structure of the quadruple-decker frameworks. In the spectroscopy section, the electronic structures of the quadruple-decker Pc are discussed based on the theoretical and experimental results. A simple molecular orbital (MO) method predicts that energy gaps among the occupied frontier MOs of the quadruple-decker Pc become smaller than those of double- or triple-decker Pcs, leading to the observation of exceptionally low-lying electronic transitions for the oxidized quadruple-decker Pcs. It has been confirmed that the corresponding lowest π–π* electronic transitions reach the infrared region for the one-electron oxidized quadruple-decker Pcs. In the magnetic property section, a clear evidence of the long-range magnetic dipole–dipole f–f interactions between two f-electronic centers of diterbium quadruple-decker Pc is provided, and its magnetic relaxation phenomena arising mainly from quantum tunneling magnetizations (QTMs) will be discussed by using the alternate current (ac) magnetic susceptibility data, and the numerically calculated Zeeman diagram of the f-electronic centers in the quadruple-decker Pc.