Theoretical investigation of the molecular and electronic structures and excitation spectra of iron phthalocyanine and its derivatives, FePc and FePcL(n) (L = Py, CN-; n = 1, 2).

The effects of axial ligands on the ground-state geometries, electronic structures and the characteristic optical properties of iron phthalocyanine and its derivatives, FePc and FePcL(n) (L = pyridine (Py) and cyanide (CN(-)); n = 1, 2), were investigated using the density functional theory (DFT) method. The geometries of FePc with a triplet spin state and of FePc(Py), FePc(Py)(2), FePc(CN(-)) and FePc(CN(-))(2) with singlet spin states were optimized under D(4h), C(2v), D(2h), C(4v), and D(4h) molecular symmetries, respectively. The highest occupied molecular orbitals (HOMOs) of FePc, FePc(Py), FePc(Py)(2), and FePc(CN(-)) are pi-type orbitals, which have no contribution from the p(z) atomic orbitals of all nitrogen atoms, whereas the HOMO of FePc(CN(-))(2) is the 7e(g) orbital, which has contributions from the d(xz) and the d(yz) orbitals of the Fe atom mixing with the pi-orbitals of the axial CN(-) ligands. The time-dependent (TD) DFT method gives many optically allowed excitations for FePc, FePc(Py), FePc(Py)(2), FePc(CN(-)), and FePc(CN(-))(2) in the UV-VIS region. Our calculated bands corresponded well with the experimental results. In FePc(Py)(2), the metal-ligand charge transfer (MLCT) transitions from the metal d to the axial-ligand pi*-type orbitals contributed to the B band region. In FePc(CN(-))(2), the MLCT transitions from the metal d to the Pc-ring pi*-type orbitals contributed mainly to the first B band region, but those from the metal d to the axial-ligand pi*-type orbitals did not appear in the energy regions of the Q and B bands. Thus, the axial ligands caused a spectral change in FePc through orbital mixing.