Soluble Zinc Phthalocyanines as chemical probes for Δ-9-tetrahydrocannabinol in different solvents

The detection of [Formula: see text]-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is important for several applications from agriculture and pharmaceuticals to law enforcement. Two novel soluble zinc phthalocyanines were synthesized and their interaction with THC was studied. We report the change in the electrochemical and spectroelectrochemical response of the two zinc derivatives in the presence of THC using different organic solvents (DCM, THF, and DMF). The greatest change in spectroelectrochemical response was found when DCM was employed, whereas when THF was used an increase in higher energy [Formula: see text]-[Formula: see text]* transitions within the Pc cores was observed. Using DMF on the other hand demonstrated little change in response. We also found that the functional group used to solubilize the ZnPc played a significant role in the observed spectrochemical response to THC. These results demonstrate the potential for ZnPc-based chemical probes for the use in detection of THC.