Abstract:
The enrichment of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in thin films of heavily substituted soluble phthalocyanines (PcMs) was investigated using mass sensitive transducers and different spectroscopic techniques.
Several PcMs were investigated to check the influence of different structural parameters on the sorption process Therefore length, number and position of the side-chains as well as the central metal atom of the PcMs were varied systematically.
As a result a preferential enrichment of closely limited material classes was found for PcMs with certain metals. These findings could not be achieved using conventional polymers, as e.g. used in gas chromatography. A very strong enrichment of compounds with amine functions takes place for zinc-containing PcMs. Also a preferential sorption of aromatics for PcMs with Ni, Pd and Pt a was proven. Both target compounds are considered to be important target substances in gas analytics.
The preferential sorption was demonstrated on the basis of the analysis of the isotherms and by TDS measurements. The forecast of a host guest complex with stoichiometry 1:1, obtained by quantitative quartz microbalance measurements, could be proven by EXAFS spectroscopy. For the case of the n-butyl amine an intercalation takes place into the stacks while maintaining the columnar arrangement of the PcZn molecules. For the preferential sorption of aromatics and of amines high experimental partition coefficients correspond to particularly strong interaction energies resulting from the computer-assisted calculations. For the interaction with aromatics the results of the calculations suggest that the reason for the preferential enrichment is a strong interaction with the central metal atoms rather than to p-stacking. The integration of PcM sensors in arrays of conventional polymer sensors is a new and interesting option, especially for the detection of small concentrations down to the ppb region.