Large-Scale Green Synthesis of Porphyrins

A new methodology for porphyrin synthesis has been developed. This is a simple two-step protocol. The first step involves the condensation of pyrrole and aldehyde in an H2O-MeOH mixture using HCl. The obtained precipitate from the first step was dissolved in reagent-grade dimethylformamide (DMF) and refluxed for 1.5 h, followed by stirring overnight in the air at room temperature. Subsequent purification through column chromatography or crystallization resulted in the formation of pure porphyrins. Advantageously, this methodology does not need any expensive chemicals such as 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyanobenzoquinone (DDQ), chloranil, and so forth as an oxidizing agent. This reaction also does not require a large volume of dry chlorinated solvents. Contrary to the reported methodologies, which are mostly ineffective in the gram-scale production of porphyrins, the present method perfectly caters to the need for gram-scale production of porphyrins. In essence, the current methodology does not represent the synthesis having the highest yield in the literature. However, it represents the easiest and cheapest synthesis of porphyrin on a large scale to obtain a reproducible yield of 10-40% with high purity. In a few of the examples, even column chromatography is not necessary. A simple crystallization technique will be sufficient to generate the desired porphyrins in good yields.

Molecules for charge-based information storage

The inexorable drive to miniaturize information storage and processing devices has fueled the dreams of scientists pursuing molecular electronics: researchers in the field envisage exquisitely tailored molecular materials fulfilling the functions now carried out by semiconductors. A bottom-up assembly of such all-molecular devices would complement, if not supplant, the present top-down lithographic procedures of modern semiconductor fabrication. Short of these grand aspirations, a more near-term objective is to construct hybrid architectures wherein molecules are incorporated in semiconductor-based devices. Such a combined approach exploits the advantages of molecules for selected device functions while retaining the well-developed lithographic approaches for fabrication of the overall chip. In this Account, we survey more than a decade of results from our research programs to employ porphyrin molecules as charge-storage elements in hybrid semiconductor-molecular dynamic random access memory. Porphyrins are attractive for a variety of reasons: they meet the stability criteria for use in real-world applications, they are readily prepared and tailored synthetically, they undergo read-write processes at low potential, and they store charge for extended periods (up to minutes) in the absence of applied potential. Porphyrins typically exhibit two cationic redox states. Molecular architectures with greater than two cationic redox states are achieved by combinations of porphyrins in a variety of structures (for example, dyads, wherein the porphyrins have distinct potentials, triple deckers, and dyads of triple deckers). The incorporation of porphyrins in hybrid architectures has also required diverse tethers (alkyl, alkenyl, alkynyl, aryl, and combinations thereof) and attachment groups (alcohol, thiol, selenol, phosphonate, and hydrocarbon) for linkage to a variety of surfaces (Au, Si, SiO(2), TiN, Ge, and so forth). The porphyrins as monolayers exhibit high charge density and are robust to high-temperature excursions (400 °C for 30 min) under inert atmosphere conditions. Even higher charge densities, which are invaluable for device applications, were achieved by in situ formation of porphyrin polymers or by stepwise growth of porphyrin-imide oligomers. The various molecular architectures have been investigated by diverse surface characterization methods, including ellipsometry, atomic force microscopy, FTIR spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, as well as a variety of electrochemical methods. These studies have further revealed that the porphyrin layers are robust under conditions of deposition of a top metal contact. The results to date indicate the superior features of selected molecular architectures for molecular electronics applications. The near-term utilization of such materials depends on further work for appropriate integration in semiconductor-based devices, whereas ultimate adoption may depend on advances that remain far afield, such as the development of fully bottom-up assembly processes.

Metal-molecule interactions upon deposition of copper overlayers on reactively functionalized porphyrin monolayers on Si(100)

The interaction of evaporated Cu deposited on a series of porphyrins in monolayers covalently attached to Si(100) substrates was investigated using cyclic voltammetry and FTIR spectroscopy. Each porphyrin contains a triallyl tripod attached to the porphyrin via a p-phenylene unit. The tripod anchors the porphyrin to the Si(100) substrate via hydrosilylation of the allyl groups. Two of the porphyrins are Zn chelates that possess meso p-cyanophenyl substituentsone, ZnP-CND, contains a single group opposite (distal) to the tripodal surface anchor, whereas the other, ZnP-CNL, contains two groups orthogonal (lateral) to the surface anchor. A third Zn porphyrin, ZnP, containing nonreactive p-tolyl groups at all three nonanchoring meso positions, was examined for comparison. The fourth porphyrin, FbP-HD, is a metal-free species (free base) that contains nonreactive phenyl (distal) and p-tolyl groups (lateral) at the three nonanchoring meso positions. The fifth porphyrin, CuP-HD, is the Cu chelate of FbP-HD, and serves as a reference complex for evaluating the effects of Cu metal deposition onto FbP-HD. The studies indicate that all of the porphyrin monolayers are robust under the conditions of Cu deposition, experiencing no noticeable degradation. In addition, the Cu metal does not penetrate through the monolayer to form electrically conductive filaments. For the ZnP-CND monolayers, the deposited Cu quantitatively reacts/complexes with the distal cyano group. In contrast, for the ZnP-CNL monolayers no reaction/complexation of the lateral cyano groups is observed. For the FbP-HD monolayers, Cu deposition results in quantitative insertion of Cu into the free base porphyrin. Collectively, the studies demonstrate that porphyrin monolayers are amenable to direct deposition of Cu overlayers and that functionalization of the porphyrins can be used to mediate the attributes of the metal-molecule junction.