Patent ID: 7291727

Claim:
A liquid crystalline porphyrin or porphyrin metal complex, having the structure I or II below: wherein L is a linking group selected from COO, OOC, O, S, COS or NHCO; M=Zn, Co, Cu, Ni, Cr, Mn, Mg, Ce, Ru, Rh, Pt, Au, or a lanthanide metal and which may be bound to a halogen, O, OH or ═CO; and wherein R 1 , R 2 , and R 3 are a) R 1 ═R 2 ═R 3 , and wherein R 3 is a C6-36 linear or branched alkoxy which may include at least one of the group consisting of a perfluoroalkyl group, C 60 (fullerene), a C 60 derivative, an aromatic moiety, a cyclic group, and one or more of O, S, CO, COO, N═N, C≡C, and C═C; b) R 1 ═H, R 2 ═R 3 , and wherein R 3 is selected from the group consisting of a C6-36 linear or branched alkoxy which may include at least one of the group consisting of a perfluoroalkyl group, C 60 (fullerene), a C 60 derivative, an aromatic moiety, a cyclic group, and one or more of O, S, CO, COO, N═N, C≡C, and C═C; c) R 2 ═H, R 1 ═R 3 , and wherein R 3 is selected from the group consisting of a C6-36 linear or branched alkoxy which may include at least one of the group consisting of a perfluoroalkyl group, C 60 (fullerene), a C 60 derivative, an aromatic moiety, a cyclic group, and one or more of O, S, CO, COO, N═N, C≡C, and C═C; or d) R 1 ═R 3 ═H, and R 2 is a C6-36 linear or branched alkoxy which includes at least one of the group consisting of a perfluoroalkyl group, C 60 (fullerene), a C 60 derivative, an aromatic moiety, a cyclic group, and one or more of O, S, CO, COO, N═N, C≡C, and C═C.