Influence of Structural Isomerism on the Electronic Properties of Extended Phthalocyanines

The electronic structure of isomeric naphthalocyanines (H2Nc) is investigated using the nonempirical valence effective Hamiltonian (VEH) technique. The way the outer benzene rings are annelated (linearly as in 2,3-H2Nc or angularly as in 1,2-H2Nc) is shown to determine very important changes in the electronic properties. While similar properties to those of phthalocyanine are calculated for 1,2-H2Nc, lower oxidation potentials and red-shifted optical absorptions are predicted for 2,3-H2Nc in agreement with experimental data. The isomerism resulting from the different relative positions of the angularly annelated benzene rings in 1,2-H2Nc is shown to have almost no effect on the electronic properties.