Ink-jet recording ink and method of ink-jet recording

1. An inkjet recording ink comprising an aqueous medium and a phthalocyanine dye dissolved in said aqueous medium, wherein said phthalocyanine dye is a water-soluble dye having an oxidation potential nobler than 1.0 V (vs SCE) and wherein said ink contains two or more different antiseptics,

wherein said phthalocyanine dye is represented by the following formula (I):

wherein X 1 , X 2 , X 3 and X 4 each independently represents —SO-Z, —SO 2 -Z, —SO 2 NR1R2, a sulfo group, —CONR1R2 or —CO 2 R1;

Z represents a substituted or unsubstituted alkyl group, a substituted or unsubstituted cycloalkyl group, a substituted or unsubstituted alkenyl group, a substituted or unsubstituted aralkyl group, a substituted or unsubstituted aryl group, or a substituted or unsubstituted heterocyclic group, and R1 and R2 each independently represents a hydrogen atom, a substituted or unsubstituted alkyl group, a substituted or unsubstituted cycloalkyl group, a substituted or unsubstituted alkenyl group, a substituted or unsubstituted aralkyl group, a substituted or unsubstituted aryl group, or a substituted or unsubstituted heterocyclic group, provided that when a plurality of Zs are present, these may be same or different;

Y 1 , Y 2 , Y 3 and Y 4 each independently represents a monovalent substituent;

provided that when a plurality of X 1 s, X 2 s, X 3 s, X 4 s, Y 1 s, Y 2 s, Y 3 s or Y 4 s are present, these may be same or different;

a 1 to a 4 and b 1 to b 4 represent a number of substituents X 1 to X 4 and Y 1 to Y 4 , respectively, a 1 to a 4 each independently represents an integer of 0 to 4 but all are not 0 at the same time, and b 1 to b 4 each independently represents an integer of 0 to 4; and

M represents a hydrogen atom, a metal atom or an oxide thereof, hydroxide or halide thereof.

2. The inkjet recording ink as claimed in claim 1 , wherein an ozone discoloration rate constant of recorded image is 5.0×10 −2 [hour −1 ] or less when said inkjet recording ink is used for a recording of an image.

3. The inkjet recording ink as claimed in claim 1 , wherein a monochromatic moiety of an image printed by using said inkjet recording ink to give a cyan reflection density of 0.9 to 1.1 in a Status A filter has a coloring matter residual ratio (density after discoloration/initial density×100) of 60% or more after storage of said printed image in an ozone environment of 5 ppm for 24 hours.

4. The inkj et recording ink as claimed in claim 1 , wherein after storage of the image printed by using said inkjet recording ink to give a cyan reflection density of 0.9 to 1.1 in a Status A filter in an ozone environment of 5 ppm for 24 hours, an amount of Cu ion flowed out from said ink into water is 20% or less of all dyes.

5. The inkjet recording ink as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said phthalocyanine dye is a water-soluble dye having an electron-withdrawing group at a β-position of a benzene ring of said phthalocyanine.

6. The inkjet recording ink as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said phthalocyanine dye is a water-soluble phthalocyanine dye produced by a process not passing through sulfonation of an unsubstituted phthalocyanine.

7. The inkjet recording ink as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the dye represented by formula (I) is a dye represented by the following formula (II):

wherein X 11 to X 14 and M 1 have same meanings as X 1 to X 4 and M in formula (I), respectively

Y 11 to Y 18 each independently represents a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, an alkyl group, an aryl group, a cyano group, an alkoxy group, an amido group, a ureido group, a sulfonamido group, a carbamoyl group, a sulfamoyl group, an alkoxycarbonyl group, a carboxyl group or a sulfo group;

provided that when a plurality of X 11 s, X 12 s, X 13 s, X 14 s, Y 11 s, Y 12 s, Y 13 s or Y 14 s are present, these may be the same or different; and

a 11 to a 14 represent a number of substituents X 11 to X 14 respectively and each independently represents an integer of 1 or 2.

8. The inkjet recording ink as claimed in claim 1 , which contains an organic solvent having a boiling point of 150° C. or more.

9. An inkjet recording method comprising ejecting said inkjet recording ink claimed in claim 1 on an image-receiving material.

10. An inkjet recording method comprising ejecting ink droplets according to recording signals on an image-receiving material including a support having thereon an image-receiving layer containing a white inorganic pigment particle, thereby recording an image on said image-receiving material, wherein said ink droplet comprises said inkj et recording ink claimed in claim 1 .