Synthesis of benziporphyrins and heterobenziporphyrins and an assessment of the diatropic characteristics of the protonated species.

Benzitripyrranes were prepared by reacting diphenyl-substituted benzenedicarbinols with excess pyrrole in the presence of BF3·Et2O. These dipyrrolic compounds underwent acid-catalyzed condensations with a pyrrole dialdehyde to afford good yields of diphenylbenziporphyrins, and further reaction with palladium(II) acetate gave stable organometallic derivatives. The X-ray crystal structure of a palladium(II) benziporphyrin showed that the system deviates significantly from planarity. Although the benzitripyrranes failed to give stable macrocyclic products with furan or thiophene dialdehydes, they afforded tetraphenyl heterobenziporphyrins upon reaction with diphenyl-substituted furan- or thiophenedicarbinols and BF3·Et2O. Benziporphyrins and their heteroanalogues showed no indication of a diamagnetic ring current by proton NMR spectroscopy, but addition of TFA gave rise to the formation of weakly diatropic dications.