Synthesis and characterization of a novel alkoxy substituted gold(III) phthalocyanine

Abstract

Gold(III) compounds have long been investigated for anti-cancer treatment. However, clinical use has often been hampered by their poor stability in solution. In the design of physiologically stable anticancer gold (III) complexes, promising tetrapyrrole derivatives such as phthalocyanines are rarely studied. In this work, a novel soluble symmetrical gold-(III) phthalocyanine (AuPc) complex bearing four pentyloxy terminal moieties was prepared from metal-free phthalocyanine precursor in dioxane in the presence of K[AuCl4] and sodium acetate/acetic acid buffer. The new gold(III) complex obtained from this metallation was characterized by using elemental analyses, UV–Vis, FTIR, 1H NMR and mass spectroscopic data. The aggregative properties of the novel compound were also investigated in a concentration range of 2×10−6M to 3.1×10−5M and no aggregation was observed.