Langmuir and Langmuir-Blodgett film preparation and study of a metalloporphyrin dimer molecule

Two iron complexes of a porphyrin dimer molecule were synthesized and studied at the air-water interface and in Langumir-Blodgett (LB) films. Surface pressure-area isotherm and UV-vis absorption spectroscopic studies revealed an interesting molecular switching behavior between the two iron porphyrin complexes under basic or acidic conditions. Such a reversible structural transition does not only occur in solution phase, but readily takes place in the deposited Langmuir-Blodgett films. Domains with strip or disk-like shapes were formed in the Langmuir films of the metalloporphyrin complexes when barbituric acid was added into the subphase, an indication of supramolecular network formation between the metalloporphyrin dimer and barbituric acid molecules. Magnetic property studies of the Langmuir-Blodgett films of the iron porphyrin complexes by magnetic force microscopy provide further insights into relationships between the magnetic response and molecular structures of the metalloporphyrin LB films. Copyright (C) 2005 Society of Porphyrins & Phthalocyanines.