  We have performed a comparative study of the electronic properties of six
different electron-doped metal phthalocyanine (MPc) compounds (ZnPc, CuPc,
NiPc, CoPc, FePc, and MnPc), in which the electron density is controlled by
means of potassium intercalation. In spite of the complexity of these systems,
we find that the nature of the underlying molecular orbitals produce observable
effects in the doping dependence of the electrical conductivity of the
materials. For all the MPc's in which the added electrons are expected to
occupy orbitals centered on the ligands (ZnPc, CuPc, and NiPc), the doping
dependence of the conductivity has an essentially identical shape. This shape
is different from that observed in MPc materials in which electrons are also
added to orbitals centered on the metal atom (CoPc, FePc, and MnPc). The
observed relation between the macroscopic electronic properties of the MPc
compounds and the properties of the molecular orbitals of the constituent
molecules, clearly indicates the richness of the alkali-doped
metal-phthalocyanines as a model class of compounds for the investigation of
the electronic properties of molecular systems.
