Nucleophilic aromatic substitution reactions of 3-nitrophthalonitrile yield 3-hydroxyphthalonitrile and 3-neopentoxyphthalonitrile, the latter of which condensed to 1,8,15,22-tetraneopentoxyphthalocyanine as a mixture of isomers. Bisphthalonitriles such as 1,3-bis(2′,3′-dicyanophenoxy)-2,2-dipentylpropane, 1,3-bis(2′,3′-dicyanophenoxy)-2,2-diethylpropane, 1,3-bis(2′,3′-dicyanophenoxy)-2,2-dioctylpropane, and 1,3-bis(2′,3′-dicyanophenoxy)-2-methyl-2-trityloxymethylpropane all gave bis-crown-like 1,11,15,25-tetrasubstituted phthalocyanines as pure compounds when treated with lithium octoxide in 1-octanol at 196 °C. A host of nine other bisphthalonitriles including 1,5-bis(2′,3′-dicyanophenoxy)-3-oxapentane, 1,1-bis(2′,3′-dicyanophenoxymethyl)cyclohexane, 1,2-bis(2′,3′-dicyanophenoxymethyl)benzene, and 2,5-bis(2′,3′-dicyanophenoxymethyl)furan did not dimerize to mononuclear phthalocynaines. The "gem dimethyl" effect was suggested as a reason for the successful macrocyclizations. Key words: nucleophilic aromatic substitution, phthalonitriles, bisphthalonitriles, 1,11,15,25-tetrasubstituted phthalocyanines.
The use of bisphthalonitriles in the synthesis of side-strapped 1,11,15,25-tetrasubstituted phthalocyanines