ABSTRACT
I. INTRODUCTION The physiological sensation of color has played and continues to play an important role in the development of civilization. The control of color by the use of dyes and pigments has been practiced since prehistoric times. The cave drawings are evidence of the use of inorganic pigments, and furs were dyed with vegetable extracts. Methods of extraction of dyes from naturally ·occurring materials have been documented by the ancient Egyptians (Brunella, 1973). Copper compounds have been used since these periods for the blue coloration in glaze~ and glasses. Mankind's fascination with color fortified the technology of dyeing from naturally occurring minerals and extracts over the remaining thousands of years and up to the present. In 1856, William Perkin attempting to synthesize quinine, serendipitously discovered mauve. This discovery and the simultaneous advances in synthetic organic chemistry prompted a flurry of activity in dye synthesis. Today, there are thousands of dyes and pigments that are offered in commerce and the synthetic and commercial routes of many are well known (see Venkataraman, 1952, 1953; Waring and Hallas, 1990; Zollinger, 1991; Lewis, 1988). The most important copper-containing colorants, the phthalocyanine complexes, were introduced commercially in 1936 and there are several outstanding volumes devoted to them (Moser and Thomas, 1963, 1983a, 1983b).
