Communications
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201005780
Expanded Porphyrins
Siamese-Twin Porphyrin: A Pyrazole-Based Expanded Porphyrin
Providing a Bimetallic Cavity**
Lina K. Frensch, Kevin Prꢀpper, Michael John, Serhiy Demeshko, Christian Brꢁckner,* and
Franc Meyer*
Dedicated to Professor Herbert W. Roesky on the occasion of his 75th birthday
Expanded porphyrins are synthetic analogues of porphyrins
consisting of at least 17 atoms in a cyclic conjugated frame-
work that contains at least three pyrrole or pyrrole-like
heterocyclic subunits.[1] These macrocyclic systems have
aroused great interest as near-IR-absorbing or -emitting
chromophores and as two-photon dyes; their cavities are
large enough to function as anion-recognition systems, and
they may exhibit intriguing conformations.[2] Hexaphyrin 1 is
a representative expanded porphyrin that exists in a number
of conformations and oxidation states, capable of forming a
variety of mono- and bimetallic complexes, including the
formation of Mꢀbius aromatic systems.[2d,3]
incorporating a pyrazole unit, carbaporphyrin 2, introduced
in 2008 by Lash et al.[5]
We report here the synthesis of
a pyrazole-based
expanded porphyrin consisting of four pyrrole and two
pyrazole units (Figure 1). This arrangement can be inter-
Figure 1. Framework of the Siamese-twin porphyrin highlighting the
two fused constituent porphyrin-like macrocycles.
preted as the fusion of two {N4} porphyrin-like coordination
sites. Thus, we like to dub it “Siamese-twin porphyrin”. This
naming is descriptive of the framework structure but does not
imply the presence of porphyrinic conjugation pathways
inherent to this system. We have previously shown pyrazoles
with chelating side arms to be versatile bridging ligands in di-
and multinuclear transition-metal complexes.[6] Consequently,
one of the goals of the work was to bind two metals in close
proximity in these highly preorganized binding pockets.[7]
We are not the first to conceive the Siamese-twin
porphyrin structure. Lind, in a 1987 dissertation, describes
many innovative, but apparently unsuccessful, approaches
toward this expanded porphyrin.[8] Recently we reported a
bis(pyrrolylmethylene)pyrazole building block that was
designed for the 3+3-type synthesis of the target macrocycle.
Alas, this could not be achieved, though other interesting
macrocycles were synthesized.[9] Three major problems
became evident in our, as well as Lindꢁs, work:[8,10] While
MS evidence indicated that a macrocyclization of the
appropriate building blocks was likely, the macrocycles
could not be isolated. Moreover, the tremendous conforma-
tional flexibility and the large number of stereoisomers
formed made it difficult to identify these intermediates by
NMR spectroscopy. Lastly, our inability to reliably oxidize
any of the methylene groups attached to the pyrazoles
stymied progress.[11]
Naturally, the majority of expanded porphyrins employ
pyrrolic building blocks but macrocycles incorporating, for
instance, furan or thiophene building blocks are also known.[4]
There are no expanded porphyrins containing pyrazole units.
In fact, we are aware of only one porphyrin analogue
[*] Dipl.-Chem. L. K. Frensch, Dipl.-Chem. K. Prꢀpper, Dr. M. John,
Dr. S. Demeshko, Prof. Dr. F. Meyer
Institut fꢁr Anorganische Chemie
Georg-August-Universitꢂt Gꢀttingen
Tammannstrasse 4, 37077 Gꢀttingen (Germany)
Fax: (+49)551-39-3063
E-mail: franc.meyer@chemie.uni-goettingen.de
Prof. Dr. C. Brꢁckner
Department of Chemistry, Unit 3060
University of Connecticut
Storrs, CT 06269-3060 (USA)
Fax: (+1)860-486-2743
E-mail: c.bruckner@uconn.edu
We thus decided to prepare the pyrrole–pyrazole hybrid 3
which is phenyl substituted in the meso positions as well as on
the pyrazole (Scheme 1). Together with the b-ethyl substitu-
ents of the pyrrole, this was thought to enforce a conforma-
tion that places all substituents on the outside of the
macrocyclic, nonconjugated precursor to the target structure.
[**] Financial support from the Fonds der chemischen Industrie, the
Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, the DAAD (to L.K.F.), and the
NSF (CHE-0517782 to C.B.) is gratefully acknowledged.
Supporting information for this article is available on the WWW
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ꢀ 2011 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2011, 50, 1420 –1424