Photophysics of zinc (II) phthalocyanine polymer and gel formulation.

The photophysical properties of lipophilic phthalocyanines encapsulated into a polymer and two different gels were studied in order to predict their photosensitizing efficacy in vivo. Photophysical techniques for solid phase were adapted for light dispersing samples. Gel formulation of two tetrasubstituted phthalocyanines, tetra-t-butylphthalocyaninato zinc(II) (1), tetrakis(1,1-dimethyl-2-phthalimido)ethylphtalocyaninatozinc(II) (2) and two octasubstituted phthalocyanines, 2,3,9,10,16,17,23,24-octakis(decyloxy)phthalocyaninatozinc(II) (3) and 2,3,9,10,16,17,23,24-octakis[(N,N-dimethylamino)ethylsulfanyl]phthalocyaninatozinc(II) (4) were investigated for their possible use in photodynamic therapy for topical purposes. Supporting the fact that gel formulation improves the photophysical properties of phthalocyanines, singlet molecular oxygen quantum yield (Phi(Delta)) values for 1-4 zinc(II) phthalocyaninates in Lutrol F 127-Cremophor RH 40 were 0.60, 0.60, 0.20 and 0.26, respectively. Permeation studies showed that no release of phthalocyanines occurs, thus indicating there should be no risk of generalized skin photosensitivity in areas other than the dye-deposition site.