Stepwise syntheses of bisporphyrins, bischlorins, and biscorroles, and of porphyrin-chlorin and porphyrin-corrole heterodimers

The stepwise syntheses and characterization of a series of symmetrical and unsymmetrical bisporphyrins, bischlorins, and biscorroles, and of porphyrin-chlorin and porphyrin-corrole dyads possessing ethylene, phenyl, and stilbene linking units are described. The methodology for synthesis of 10-substituted corroles 2 and their cobalt complexes 9 via a,c-biladiene salts 1 was first developed, and then extended to provide biscorroles (e.g., 4 and 5) linked through the 10-positions with phenyl linker units. Using a similar methodology, phenyl-linked corrole-porphyrin dyads 28 and 30 were also prepared. By way of intermediate phenyl-linked unsymmetrical bisdipyrromethanes, a completely unsymmetrical heterobimetallic bisporphyrin system, 45, was synthesized. Low-valent titanium coupling (McMurry) reactions were used to prepared stilbene-linked bisdipyrromethanes (e.g., 46) which were subsequently transformed into stilbene-linked bisporphyrins (e.g., 48). McMurry cross-coupling reactions of porphyrins bearing p-formylphenyl substituents also afforded an unsymmetrically substituted bisporphyrinylstilbene, 60, as well as the corresponding homodimers 56 and 59. Likewise, McMurry cross-coupling of a p-formylphenyl-substituted porphyrin, 62, with a formylchlorin, 63, afforded a stilbene-linked bisporphyrin, 64, a bischlorin, 66, and a novel porphyrin-chlorin heterodimer, 65. All novel products were characterized by ¹H NMR, UV-vis, and mass spectroscopy and elemental analysis. X-ray structural information was also obtained for the zinc/nickel bisporphyrin 45 and for the bis-nickel porphyrin-chlorin 65.