Abstract
Unsubstituted magnesium (MgPc), zinc (ZnPc) and chloroaluminium (ClAlPc) phthalocyanine complexes and the ring substituted zinc tetranitro (ZnPc(NO2)4), zinc tetraamino (ZnPc(NH2)4), zinc hexadecafluoro (ZnPcF16) and zinc hexadecachloro (ZnPcCl16), phthalocyanine complexes are employed as photocatalysts for the heterogeneous transformation of 4-nitrophenol (4-Np) to fumaric acid and 4-nitrocatechol. ClAlPc is the best catalyst, with 89 ± 8% degradation of 4-Np after 100 min. The least effective catalysts were ZnPcCl16 and MgPc.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by Rhodes University and National Research Foundation (NRF, Gun = 2053657) in South Africa. EM thanks DAAD (South Africa) for graduate bursary.