Patent ID: 8242262

Claim:
Process for preparing chlorides of phthalocyanine derivatives of formula (I) in which R is selected from the group consisting of H, groups containing at least one quaternary ammonium substituent, a group suitable for binding by means of covalent bonds, and a bio-organic carrier selected from the group consisting of amino acids, polypeptides, proteins, antibodies, polysaccharides and aptamers, R 1 , being the same as or different from R, is chosen from H and groups containing at least one quaternary ammonium substituent, R 2 and R 3 , being the same or different, are selected from the group consisting of H, alkoxy or thioalkoxy groups having from 1 to 10 carbon atoms, and groups containing at least one quaternary ammonium substituent, with the proviso that: a) at least one from R, R 1 , R 2 and R 3 is a group containing at least one quaternary ammonium substituent and that, when R, R 1 , R 2 and R 3 are groups containing at least one quaternary ammonium substituent, or R and R 2 are groups containing at least one quaternary ammonium substituent and R 1 and R 3 are H, said groups containing at least one quaternary ammonium substituent are the same; b) when R and R 1 are both different from H, they are in positions 1,4 or 2,3, whereas when only one of R and R 1 is different from H, it is in position 1 or 2; c) when R 2 and R 3 are both different from H they are in positions 8, 11, 15, 18, 22, 25 or 9, 10, 16, 17, 23, 24 whereas when only one of R 2 and R 3 is different from H, it is in positions 8(11), 15(18), 22(25) or in positions 9(10), 16(17), 23(24); said process comprising the following steps: i) reacting a phthalocyanine of formula (II) with a suitable alkylating agent to obtain the corresponding salt of the phthalocyanine of formula (I): in which R, R 1 , R 2 and R 3 are as defined above, while R′, R′ 1 , R′ 2 , R′ 3 are corresponding groups containing at least one amino substituent, corresponding respectively to R, R 1 , R 2 , and R 3 when R, R 1 , R 2 and R 3 are groups containing at least one quaternary ammonium substituent, while being the same as R, R 1 , R 2 and R 3 in all other cases, with the proviso that at least one of R′, R′ 1 , R′ 2 and R′ 3 is a group containing at least one amino substituent and that the positions occupied by R′, R′ 1 , R′ 2 , R′ 3 are the same as specified above for R, R 1 , R 2 , R 3 ; ii) treating the ammonium salt of the phthalocyanine of formula (I) coming from step i) with a suitable ion exchange resin to obtain the corresponding phthalocyanine of formula (I) in chloride form.