This report describes the synthesis and characterization of a series of octaethylporphyrin derivatives in which theporphyrin
-networ
k is connected to phenyl, 3-fluoranthenyl, or 1-pyrenyl aromatic systems through a mesoamino or amido nitrogen. Metal-free bases and zinc(II) and iron(III) complexes have been obtained. Thesecompounds represent the first examples of lin
kages between porphyrins and extended
-networ
ks through a nitrogenatom directly attached to a porphyrin meso position.
1H NMR studies of the metal-free bases and zinc complexesshowed that in the amido-lin
ked adducts, the plane containing the aryl substituent was oriented perpendicular tothe plane of the porphyrin. Lin
kage through the secondary amino nitrogen, however, allowed the aryl plane torotate toward coplanarity with the porphyrin plane, resulting in conjugation of the highest occupied aryl andporphyrin molecular orbitals through the nitrogen lone pair. In developing routes to the amino-lin
ked compounds,the facile formation of fused azaaryl chlorins via an oxidative intramolecular cycloaddition was observed. Anaryl carbon ortho to the meso lin
kage attac
ked the
-carbon of an adjacent pyrrole ring, accompanied by 1,2-migration of a pyrrole
-ethyl substituent and a two-electron oxidation of the initially formed macrocycle. Theresulting structures are analogous to benzochlorins. The electronic spectra of the metal-free bases are characterizedby intense, long-wavelength bands in the visible region. Molecular structures of the chloroferric complexes of theazabenzofluorantheno- and azabenzpyrenoporphyrin macrocycles (derived from fusion of the fluoranthenyl andpyrenyl substituents, respectively) were obtained by X-ray diffraction. The porphyrin moiety in the azabenzofluoranthenoporphyrin adopted a gable structure, with a 22
fold along a diagonal including the pyrrole-ring C4and C16
-carbons. By contrast, the azabenzpyrenoporphyrin was virtually planar.