Directly linked porphyrin arrays.

The Ag(I)-promoted oxidative meso-meso coupling reaction of 5,15-diaryl Zn(II)-porphyrin was serendipitously found in the course of our synthetic approaches towards photosynthetic reaction centers. Based on this reaction, a variety of directly linked and fused porphyrin arrays have been synthesized, including linear meso-meso-linked porphyrin arrays, windmill- and grid-shaped porphyrin arrays, meso-beta singly linked diporphyrins, beta-beta linked diporphyrins, meso-beta doubly linked (fused) diporphyrins and oligoporphyrins, meso-meso beta-beta doubly linked (fused) diporphyrins, and meso-meso beta-beta-beta-beta triply linked (fused) diporphyrins. The meso-meso coupling reaction of 5,15-diaryl Zn(II)-porphyrins is advantageous considering its high regioselectivity as well as its ease of extension to large porphyrin arrays as is demonstrated by the synthesis of a discrete meso-meso-linked 128-mer and poly(5,15-porphyrinylene). Finally, the oxidation of end-phenyl capped meso-meso-linked zinc porphyrins with DDQ-Sc(OTf)(3) gave pi-conjugated flat porphyrin tapes. To the best of our knowledge, the meso-meso linked 128-mer is the longest man-made discrete molecule, and the porphyrin tape 12-mer is the most extensively conjugated porphyrin array, as evinced by the lowest electronic band peak at 3500 cm(-1).