Synthesis and characterization of a new unsymmetrical porphyrin liquid crystal and its lanthanide complexes

Abstract

A meso-substituted unsymmetrical porphyrin liquid crystal, 5-(4-myristyloxy)phenyl-10,15,20-triphenyl porphyrin, and a series of its lanthanide complexes, (lanthanide ions: Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho and Er) with acetylacetone were synthesized and characterized by elemental analyses, molar conductances, UV-Vis, IR and ¹H NMR spectra. A structure is proposed in which the porphyrin is as a tetradentate ligand and acetylacetonate is bidentate to the lanthanide. Luminescence spectra show that quantum yields of the Q band fluorescence are in the region 0.027–0.191. DSC data and an optical textural photo using a polarizing microscope indicates that the compounds have liquid crystalline character.

Keywords:

• Porphyrin
• Acetylacetone
• Lanthanide complexes
• Liquid crystal

Acknowledgement

We thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China for financial support of this work.