Monomeric (M = 2Li or 2H) and polymeric (M = 2H, Zn, Cu, Co, or Ni), where M is metal or hydrogen, phthalocyanines were prepared by the tetramerization reaction of bisphthalonitrile monomer with appropriate materials. The electrical conductivities of the polymeric phthalocyanines, which were measured as gold sandwiches, were found to be 10(-10)-10(-7) S/cm in vacuo and in air. The binding property of a Co-containing polymeric phthalocyanine (10) toward alkali, alkaline-earth, and some heavy cations was studied in tetrahydrofuran. The extraction affinity of 10 for K+ was found to be the highest in the heterogeneous phase extraction experiments. The disaggregation property of a Ni-containing polymeric phthalocyanine (11) was investigated with K+, Na+, and NH4+ cations. The intrinsic viscosities of all polymers were also measured by means of viscometry. All the novel compounds were characterized with elemental analysis, ultraviolet-visible, Fourier transform infrared, NMR, and mass spectrometry spectral data, and differential thermal analysis/thermogravimetry. (C) 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.