Control of the spatial arrangements of supramolecular networks based on saddle-distorted porphyrins by intermolecular hydrogen bonding

Nonplanar porphyrins: synthesis, properties, and unique functionalities

Porphyrins are variously substituted tetrapyrrolic macrocycles, with wide-ranging biological and chemical applications derived from metal chelation in the core and the 18π aromatic surface. Under suitable conditions, the porphyrin framework can deform significantly from regular planar shape, owing to steric overload on the porphyrin periphery or steric repulsion in the core, among other structure modulation strategies. Adopting this nonplanar porphyrin architecture allows guest molecules to interact directly with an exposed core, with guest-responsive and photoactive electronic states of the porphyrin allowing energy, information, atom and electron transfer within and between these species. This functionality can be incorporated and tuned by decoration of functional groups and electronic modifications, with individual deformation profiles adapted to specific key sensing and catalysis applications. Nonplanar porphyrins are assisting breakthroughs in molecular recognition, organo- and photoredox catalysis; simultaneously bio-inspired and distinctly synthetic, these molecules offer a new dimension in shape-responsive host-guest chemistry. In this review, we have summarized the synthetic methods and design aspects of nonplanar porphyrin formation, key properties, structure and functionality of the nonplanar aromatic framework, and the scope and utility of this emerging class towards outstanding scientific, industrial and environmental issues.

Energetics of Saddling versus Ruffling in Metalloporphyrins: Unusual Ruffled Dodecasubstituted Porphyrins

Presented herein is a first major density functional theory (BP86/D3/STO-TZ2P) survey of the energetics of saddling versus ruffling for a wide range of dodecasubstituted metalloporphyrins with M = Ni, Cu, Zn, Pd, and Pt. For the majority of X₈TPP (i.e., β-octasubstituted-meso-tetraphenylporphyrin), the calculations indicated a clear preference for the saddled conformation, consistent with a large body of experimental data. The preference for the saddled conformation relative to the ruffled conformation was found to vary from about ∼0.3-0.4 eV for Me₈TPP derivatives up to 1 eV for I₈TPP and (CF₃)₈TPP derivatives. For X = Ph, that is, dodecaphenylporphyrins, the saddled and the ruffled conformation are almost equienergetic, with even a slight preference for the ruffled conformation in some cases. This finding provides a satisfactory explanation for the X-ray crystallographic observation of both saddled and ruffled conformations for dodecaphenylporphyrin complexes as well as for spectroscopic evidence for conformational mobility of these complexes in solution. The calculations also indicate near-equienergetic saddled and ruffled conformations for meso-tetraacetylenyltetrabenzoporphyrins, again consonant with key crystallographic findings. By and large, both the energetics and nonplanar distortions of the metalloporphyrin derivatives correlated well with the Charton and Sterimol B₁ steric parameters of the peripheral substituents.