Patent ID: 7265100

Claim:
A process for the separation of regioisomeric mixtures of metal phthalocyanines of general formula (I) wherein Me is selected from the group consisting of Zn, Si(OR 4 ) 2 , Ge(OR 4 ) 2 and AlOR 4 , wherein R 4 is chosen from the group consisting of H and C 1 -C 15 alkyl; n=0, 1; R and R 1 are selected from substituents of general formula (II) wherein X is selected from the group consisting of O, S, NHCO, —CH 2 —, C═C and C≡C; Z is selected from phenyl, aryl, arylalkyl and cycloaliphatic groups; and Y and Y′, equal or different from each other, are selected from C 1 -C 15 alkyl groups; q=0, 1; R 2 and R 3 are selected from H and substituents of general formula (II) as defined above, with the proviso that: at least one of R 2 and R 3 is always other than H; and when n=0: a) R 2 and R 3 , same or different from each other, are both different from H, or b) R 2 =H and R 3 is same or different from R 1 ; and of pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof; said process consisting in a chromatographic separation comprising the following steps: i) applying the mixture to a separation column containing the stationary phase comprising a solid support; ii) separating said mixture by eluting the said column with the mobile phase comprising a solvent selected from water, an organic solvent and mixtures thereof, said organic solvent being selected from the group consisting of dichloromethane, tetrahydrofuran, methanol, n-hexane, acetonitrile and mixtures thereof.