Novel, tetrasubstituted metal-free phthalocyanine and metallophtalocyanines bearing four 13-membered dithiadiaza. macrocycle peripheral groups were synthesized by cyclotetramerization of the phthalonitrile derivative in a multi-step reaction sequence, The new compounds were characterized by a combination of IR, H-1 NMR, C-13 NMR, UV-vis, elemental analysis and MS spectral data. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.