Octopus-Type Crown-Bisphthalocyaninate Anchor for Bottom-Up Assembly of Supramolecular Bilayers with Expanded Redox-Switching Capability.

Achievement of information storage at molecular level remains a pressing task in miniaturization of computing technology. One of the promising approaches for its practical realization is development of nanoscale molecular switching materials including redox-active systems. The present work demonstrates a concept of expansion of a number of available redox-states of self-assembled monolayers through supramolecular approach.

Optical limiters with improved performance based on nanoconjugates of thiol substituted phthalocyanine with CdSe quantum dots and Ag nanoparticles.

Two alternative synthetic approaches affording a low-symmetry AB-type phthalocyanine 1 bearing two [2'-(2''-mercaptoethoxy)ethoxy] anchoring substituents were developed. Due to the presence of thiol groups, this phthalocyanine could be conjugated with TOPO-capped (TOPO - trioctylphosphine)-capped CdSe quantum dots (CdSe-QDs) or oleylamine capped silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs). The nonlinear optical behaviour of starting phthalocyanine, quantum dots, nanoparticles and their conjugates was studied by using an open aperture Z-scan technique, revealing that the grafting of 1 onto the nanomaterials resulted in a significant enhancement of the optical limiting of 1-Ag and 1-CdSe in comparison with the individual components.

First Example of Nonlinear Optical Materials Based on Nanoconjugates of Sandwich Phthalocyanines with Quantum Dots.

We report original, selective, and efficient approaches to novel nonlinear optical (NLO) materials, namely homoleptic double- and triple-decker europium(III) complexes 2 and 3 with the A B-type phthalocyanine ligand (2,3-bis[2'-(2''-hydroxyethoxy)ethoxy]-9,10,16,17,23,24-hexa-n-butoxyphthalocyanine 1) bearing two anchoring diethyleneglycol chains terminated with OH groups. Their covalently linked nanoconjugates with mercaptosuccinic acid-capped ternary CdSeTe/CdTeS/ZnSeS quantum dots are prepared in the presence of an ethyl(dimethylaminopropyl)carbodiimide activating agent. Optical limiting (OL) properties of the obtained low-symmetry complexes and their conjugates with quantum dots (QDs) are measured for the first time by the open-aperture Z-scan technique (532 nm laser and pulse rate of 10 ns).