Synthesis of diporphyrins via palladium-catalyzed C-O bond formation: effective access to chiral diporphyrins.

Diporphyrins can be efficiently synthesized from bromoporphyrin precursors via palladium-catalyzed C-O bond formation. The synthetic methodology is general and can be applied to various diols, forming a series of homo-diporphyrins containing different types of spacers in high to excellent yields. Chiral diporphyrins can be readily constructed through the use of optically active diols. A similar strategy allows access to hetero-diporphyrins and triporphyrins, including free-base and metalloporphyrin hetero dimers.