Reduction of Ozone Fading of Copper Phthalocyanine Dyes by Non-traditional Antiozonants

Abstract

Ozone fading of printed images has been an important concern in digital imaging industries. Copper phthalocyanine dyes, widely used in imaging products, have excellent light fastness, but they are highly susceptible to ozone fading. Although the detrimental effects of ozone on other industrial products, such as rubber are deterred by the addition of chemicals performing as antiozonants, mixing of dyes with these conventional antiozonants is usually not suitable for systems where the components are required to be in solution, due to the relatively lower solubility of these antiozonants in aqueous or solvent systems. Some of these efficient antiozonants also undergo oxidation, resulting in highly colored compounds, which also make them unsuitable for imaging products. The presence of suitable functional groups in the antiozonant molecules may reduce or eliminate both these problems. The results presented in this article show that several compounds, which are not used as typical antiozonants, improve ozone stability of copper phthalocyanine dyes to significant extents, with minimal colorimetric shifts. The effects of substituents on these antiozonant molecules are discussed in this article.