Macrocyclic transition metal complexes can be linked by bidentate ligands to form axially bridged, stacked structures. A number of systems of this kind have been synthesized by us and have been the subject of intensive investigations, particularly with regard to their conductivity."] As macrocycles, we used, in particular, phthalocyanine (Pc))'] tetrabenzophorphyrin (TBP) ['] We report here on the synthesis and properties of soluble, bridged phthalocyaninatoiron complexes. As metallomacrocycles we used (tBu,Pc)Fe 1 (mixture of the constitutional isomers) and (R,Pc)Fe 2 (R = 2-Et-C6H,,). Compounds 1 and 2 are readily soluble in almost all organic solvents. The metallocycles (R,Pc)Fe (R = C s H l l , C,H,.,) prepared for comparison are more sparingly soluble, i.e. to achieve high solubilities the metallocycle should either be tetrasubstituted or have a branched alkyl chain.Compounds 1 and 2 can be be converted into the bridged complexes 7a-d and 8 by reaction with dib 3, Me,dib 4, Me,pyNC 5 and pyz 6 in acetone under reflux (Scheme 1). In contrast to the uncoordinated metallomacrocycles, I and 2, and short-chain oligomers, the systems 7a-d and 8 are sparingly soluble in acetone and can therefore be readily separated from short-chain oligomers. 7a-c and 8 are soluble in CHCI,, whereas 7 d is relatively sparingly soluble. The coordination of the isocyanides to the central iron atom of the phthalocyanine results in a characteristic shift of the NC valence vibration frequency compared to that of the uncoordinated ligand. The NC valence vibration frequency in 7a-c and 8 is lowered by 20-30cm-' by the strong n-acceptor ability of 3-5 ( Table 2).The hexacoordination of the central iron atoms of 7a-d and 8 is verified by their s7Fe Mossbauer spectra. The measured isomer shifts 6 and quadrupole splittings AEQ (Table l ) correspond to the typical values for hexacoordinated PcFe" complexes[7i and all insoluble systems [PcFeL], previously synthesized byAs reference compound the hexacoordi-