Bio-Sourced/Natural Intermediates to Dyes and Pigments: Phthalocyanines (I2I Phase 1).

酞菁是染料和颜料行业的关键材料，用于油墨、油漆、纺织品、塑料等的着色，具有广泛的使用寿命和环境稳定性。酞菁最初是在20世纪初发现的，从那时起，工业就完全依赖石油碳源的起始化学品和中间体来生产酞菁。我在多伦多大学的研究实验室主要研究酞菁和亚酞菁的发展。由于社会似乎有兴趣摆脱对石油作为多种化学品和材料的碳源的依赖，我们已经确定并确认了从生物/自然来源的碳到完全生物/自然来源的中间体的化学途径，然后最终形成并产生酞菁，类似于染料和颜料工业中酞菁的当前颜色，因此可以很容易地用作着色剂。我们的起始生物/天然来源的化学品将我们带到已建立的中间体是基于植物的，因此能够使生物/自然来源的起始化学品非常可用。到目前为止，我们已经专注于并实现了6 /6关键中间体的化学途径。对于6 /6中的2 /2，我们通过化学工艺实现了高产量和高纯度，这也具有高水平的可持续性和绿色化学。其他4 /4已实现，但产量较低，需要解决可持续性问题。因此，对于这个拟议的项目，我们请求支持，以巩固所有6 /6过程的中间体，巩固其可持续性和绿色化学，然后加强已经形成的知识产权（IP）。我们还要求支持额外的IP开发。我们还将充分建立生物/自然来源中间体过程的经济学，然后将与多伦多大学建立工业伙伴关系，并有可能将技术许可推向市场。也有可能成立一家初创公司，授权知识产权，并成为生物/自然来源的酞菁中间体的最终生产商。

Phthalocyanines are key materials in the dye and pigment industry that enable the colouring of inks, paints, textiles, plastics etc. and have extensive lifetime and environmental stability. Phthalocyanines were originally identified in the early 1900s and since then industry has been fully reliant on petroleum carbon sourced starting chemicals and intermediates to yield phthalocyanines. My Research Laboratory at the University of Toronto has a main focal point on the development of phthalocyanines and subphthalocyanines.As society appears interested in moving away from reliance on petroleum as a carbon source for multiple chemicals and materials, we have identified and confirmed a chemical pathway from bio-/naturally sourced carbons to fully bio-/naturally sourced intermediates that then ultimately form and yield phthalocyanines and are analogous to current colours of phthalocyanines in the dye and pigment industry and therefore can be easily adopted as colourants. Our starting bio-/naturally source chemicals that take us to the established intermediates are plant based and are therefore able to make the bio-/naturally sourced starting chemical very available. To date we have focused on and achieved the chemical pathway to six/6 key intermediates. For two/2 of the six/6, we have achieved high yields and purities via a chemical process, which also has high level of sustainability and green chemistry. The other four/4 have been achieved, yet have modestly lower yields and have sustainability aspects to address. Therefore, for this proposed project we are requesting support to firm up all six/6 processes to the intermediates, firm up their sustainability and green chemistry and will then strengthen the intellectual property (IP) that has been formed. We also request support for additional IP development. We will also fully establish the economics of the processes to the bio-/naturally sourced intermediates and will then lead to industrial partnerships with the University of Toronto and potential for the licensing of the technology to market. There is also a possibility to form a start-up company that would license the IP, and be the ultimate producers of the bio-/naturally sourced intermediates to the phthalocyanine space.