Molecular Organization of Porphyrin-Metal Complexes

Abstract

Tetraethyltetramethylporphyrin substituted at two facing meso positions by N-methylimidazolyl groupings and its metal complexes were prepared. The absorption spectra of Zn and Mg complexes showed a characteristic splitting of Soret band and red-shifts of Q-bands indicating the exciton interaction of porphyrins in a slipped cofacial arrangement, where each imidazolyl group in one metal porphyrin is coordinated to metals in the other porphyrin skeleton. Typical upfield shifts in the ¹H NMR spectra arising from such the stacking structure elucidated Zn and Mg complexes as a dimer and an oligomeric mixture, respectively. Bis(imidazolyl)substituted tetraethyltetramethyl-porphyrin was also prepared. It suggested the hydrogen bonded oligomer formation through imidazolyl-imidazolyl interactions in a columnar orientation.

Electric conductivities of films prepared from these compounds werecharacterized. In a same line with behaviors in solution, samples capable of π-stacking interaction with adjacent porphyrins via ligand-to-metal coordination or hydrogen bonding exhibited higher conductivities as well as lower activation energies for the thermal conduction. These behaviors are understood as due to the overlap of π-systems of one porphyrin with neighboring porphyrins.