Process for combating micro-organisms, and novel phthalocyanine compounds

Claim 1

A process for combatting microorganisms in or on organic or inorganic substrates and for protecting said substrates against attack by microorganisms, which comprises treating the substrates with an effective amount of a watersoluble phthalocyanine derivative, which is a metal-free phthalocyanine derivative or a metal complex thereof which contains, as the metal atom, aluminum, zinc, iron-II, calcium, magnesium, sodium or potassium, said derivative contains, as groups conferring solubility in water, sulpho or carboxyl groups and their salts, or groups of the formulae ##STR40## in which formula X 1 is oxygen or a --NH-- or --N-alkyl radical and R 1 and R 2 independently of one another are hydrogen, a sulpho groups and salts thereof, a carboxyl group and salts thereof or a hydroxyl group, at least one of the radicals R 1 and R 2 being a sulpho or carboxyl group or a salt thereof, Y 1 is oxygen, sulphur or a --NH-- or --N-alkyl radical, R 3 and R 4 independently of one another are hydrogen, alkyl, hydroxyalkyl, cyanoalkyl, sulphoalkyl, carboxyalkyl or halogenoalkyl having 1 to 6 carbon atoms, unsubstituted phenyl or phenyl substituted by halogen, alkyl or alkoxy having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, sulpho or carboxyl, or R 3 and R 4 together with the nitrogen atom to which they are bonded are a saturated 5-membered or 6-membered heterocyclic ring, which additionally can also contain a nitrogen atom or oxygen atom as a ring member, R 5 and R 6 independently of one another are substituted or unsubstituted alkyl or aralkyl radical, R 7 is a substituted or unsubstituted alkyl group having 1 to 6 carbon atoms, or hydrogen, M is an alkali metal ion or ammonium ion, Z.sup.θ is an anion, for example a chlorine, bromine, alkyl-sulphate or aralkyl-sulphate ion, n is an integer from 2 to 12 and m' is 0 or 1, the number of groups conferring solubility in water, which can be of the same type or different, being at least sufficiently large to ensure that an adequate solubility in water is obtained, said phthalocyanine derivative also optionally containing other substitutes in addition to the groups conferring solubility in water, the amount of said phthalocyanine derivative employed being insufficient to cause substantial discoloration of the substrate, in the presence of oxygen and water and with concurrent irradiation with light in the infra-red and/or visible range of sufficient intensity to effect disinfection.