Synthesis and spectroscopic properties of monocyclic and bicyclic erbium phtalocyanines

Bimacrocyclic and monomacrocyclic erbium phtalocyanines have been synthesized and their luminescence spectra and lifetimes have been studied. The bi-planar structure of ErPc₂ complexes, although interesting at first sight, is non-luminescent because of a strong absorption band near 1.5 μm. However, the luminescence of the erbium ion can be recovered after oxidation or reduction of the macrocycle. Monomacrocyclic erbium phtalocyanines exhibit a strong luminescence of erbium as a result of the energy transfer between the excited phtalocyanine macrocycle and the erbium ion. With a perchlorinated phtalocyanine and a perdeuterated axial ligand in a deuterated solvent, the luminescence lifetime reaches 5 μs, which is the maximum lifetime found for conventional perdeutarated ligands. The large absorption cross-section of phtalocyanine in the red may counterbalance the fast luminescence lifetime, allowing the hope for a new all-organic integrated optical amplifier device.