Phthalocyanines as materials for advanced technologies: some examples

Metallophthalocyanine complexes and related compounds play an important role in many advanced applications and modern technologies mostly by virtue of their characteristic optical absorption and high chemical stability. As a class of materials made well-known by their vivid and fast colors, it is expected that metallophthalocyanines and analogues, e.g. naphthalocyanines, are going to keep their role with the increasing use of natural and artificial light in the technologies of the future. In the present review some relevant properties of phthalocyanines and related macrocycles for technological applications are analyzed. In particular the electrical conductivity and photoconductivity as well as some nonlinear optical properties (mostly optical limiting), of phthalocyanines and related compounds are discussed.