Synthesis, characterisation and X-ray structure of a novel porphyrin array employing Zn–O and O–H…O bonding motifs

Tailored Metal-Porphyrin Based Molecular Electrocatalysts for Enhanced Artificial Nitrogen Fixation to Green Ammonia

Electrochemical nitrogen reduction (E-NRR) is one of the most promising approaches to generate green NH3. However, scarce ammonia yields and Faradaic efficiencies (FE) still limit their use on a large scale. Thus, efforts are focusing on different E-NRR catalyst structures and formulations. Among present strategies, molecular electrocatalysts such as metal-porphyrins emerge as an encouraging option due to their planar structures which favor the interaction involving the metal center, responsible for adsorption and activation of nitrogen. Nevertheless, the high hydrophobicity of porphyrins limits the aqueous electrolyte-catalyst interaction lowering yields. This work introduces a new class of metal-porphyrin based catalysts, bearing hydrophilic tris(ethyleneglycol) monomethyl ether chains (metal = Cu(II) and CoII)). Experimental results show that the presence of hydrophilic chains significantly increases ammonia yields and FE, supporting the relevance of fruitful catalyst-electrolyte interactions. This study also investigates the use of hydrophobic branched alkyl chains for comparison, resulting in similar performances with respect to the unsubstituted metal-porphyrin, taken as a reference, further confirming that the appropriate design of electrocatalysts carrying peripheral hydrophilic substituents is able to improve device performances in the generation of green ammonia.

Metalloporphyrins substituted with N-carbazolyl groups quadruply at meso positions

As a new family of porphyrinoids with broad absorption bands that efficiently harvest sunlight, the metal complexes of a porphyrin quadruply substituted with [Formula: see text]-carbazolyl groups at the meso positions were photometrically and structurally characterized. The porphyrins exhibited characteristic broad bands in the range of 450–500 nm, due to the charge transfer band from carbazole to porphyrin. Ligand exchange at the axial position of the zinc complex with an aquo ligand affected the absorption spectrum, and a hyper-hypsochromic shift of the broad band was observed by the coordination of methanol. Furthermore, the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) levels of the metalloporphyrins were lowered by the electron-withdrawing effect of the perpendicularly oriented carbazolyl groups. In the solid state, zinc-porphyrin was self-assembled into a one-dimensional coordination polymer by intermolecular axial coordination.

Self-organized porphyrinic materials

The self-assembly and self-organization of porphyrins and related macrocycles enables the bottom-up fabrication of photonic materials for fundamental studies of the photophysics of these materials and for diverse applications. This rapidly developing field encompasses a broad range of disciplines including molecular design and synthesis, materials formation and characterization, and the design and evaluation of devices. Since the self-assembly of porphyrins by electrostatic interactions in the late 1980s to the present, there has been an ever increasing degree of sophistication in the design of porphyrins that self-assemble into discrete arrays or self-organize into polymeric systems. These strategies exploit ionic interactions, hydrogen bonding, coordination chemistry, and dispersion forces to form supramolecular systems with varying degrees of hierarchical order. This review concentrates on the methods to form supramolecular porphyrinic systems by intermolecular interactions other than coordination chemistry, the characterization and properties of these photonic materials, and the prospects for using these in devices. The review is heuristically organized by the predominant intermolecular interactions used and emphasizes how the organization affects properties and potential performance in devices.

Designing functionalized porphyrins capable of pseudo-2D self-assembly on surfaces

A crystallography-instructed strategy to highly ordered layering of porphyrins with different topologies on HOPG is developed based on meso-tetraarylporphyrins bearing 2-ethoxyethanol side chains as "sticky ends". These sticky ends are capable of displaying directive hydrogen bonding motifs with the inherent D4h symmetry of the porphyrins. Solvent effects are shown to have an important role in fabricating the adsorption. Metalation and subsequent axial ligation was a key controlling factor in the topology of the layer, leading to pseudo-2D structures on HOPG.

Zinc−Porphyrin Phosphonate Coordination: Structural Control through a Zinc Phosphoryl−Oxygen Interaction

Inter- and intramolecular zinc-porphyrin phosphonate coordination in the cis and trans isomers of zinc tetraphenylporphyrinstyryldiphosphonate is reported, demonstrating the potential of the zinc phosphoryl-oxygen interaction for structural control.