Crystal structure of (diethyl ether-κ)[5,10,15,20-tetra-kis-(2-iso-thio-cyanato-phen-yl)porphyrinato-κ ]zinc diethyl ether solvate.

The crystal structure of the title compound, [Zn(CHNS)(CHO)]·CHO, consists of discrete porphyrin complexes that are located on a twofold rotation axis. The Zn cation is fivefold coordinated by four N atoms of the porphyrin moiety and one O atom of a diethyl ether mol-ecule in a slightly distorted square-pyramidal environment with the diethyl ether mol-ecule in the apical position. The porphyrin backbone is nearly planar with the metal cation slightly shifted out of the plane towards the coordinating diethyl ether mol-ecule. All four iso-thio-cyanato groups of the phenyl substituents at the -positions face the same side of the porphyrin, as is characteristic for picket fence porphyrins. In the crystal structure, the discrete porphyrin complexes are arranged in such a way that cavities are formed in which additional diethyl ether solvate mol-ecules are located around a twofold rotation axis. The O atom of the solvent mol-ecule is not positioned exactly on the twofold rotation axis, thus making the whole mol-ecule equally disordered over two symmetry-related positions.