Methods for the bromination of porphyrins and their derivatives at the meso and β-positions are examined. The dependence of the course of the reactions on the conditions and on the structure of the initial compounds is discussed.

Ru(II) complexes with 5-(3-thienyl)-4,6-dipyrrin (3-TDP), containing 2,2'-bipyridine (bpy) or 4,4'-bis(methoxycarbonyl)-2,2'-bipyridine (dcmb) as coligands, have been prepared and extensively characterized. Crystal structure determination of [Ru(bpy)(2)(3-TDP)]PF(6) (1a) and [Ru(bpy)(3-TDP)(2)] (2) reveals that the 3-thienyl substituent is rotated with respect to the plane of the dipyrrinato moiety. These complexes, as well as [Ru(dcmb)(2)(3-TDP)]PF(6) (1b), act as panchromatic light absorbers in the visible range, with two strong absorption bands observable in each case. A comparison to known Ru(II) complexes and quantum-chemical calculations at the density functional theory (DFT) level indicate that the lower-energy band is due to metal-to-ligand charge transfer (MLCT) excitation, although the frontier occupied metal-based molecular orbitals (MOs) contain significant contributions from the 3-TDP moiety. The higher energy band is assigned to the π-π* transition of the 3-TDP ligand. Each complex exhibits an easily accessible one-electron oxidation. According to DFT calculations and spectroelectrochemical experiments, the first oxidation takes place at the Ru(II) center in 1a, but is shifted to the 3-TDP ligand in 1b. An analysis of MO energy diagrams suggests that complex 1b has potential to be used for light harvesting in the dye-sensitized (Grätzel) solar cell.

A facile and functional group tolerant electrocyclic reaction of styrylthiophenes which allows the synthesis of a series of new tricyclic π-conjugated systems with 39%–74% overall yields is reported.

8-Phenyl- and 8-(4-nitrophenyl)-BODIPYs with thien-2-ylthio- and (2,2'-dithien-5-yl)-thio-substitution at the 3,5-positions were synthesized. 2-Thienylthio derivatives were obtained using two different sequences, i.e., via nucleophilic substitution in the corresponding 1,9-dichlorodipyrromethenes, followed by BODIPY formation and via the same reaction using 3,5-dichloro-BODIPY dyes. The "dipyrromethene route" was observed to result in better overall yields. All the dyes were characterized by UV-Vis and fluorescence spectroscopy as well as cyclic voltammetry (CVA) studies. The UV-Vis spectra exhibited slight dependence on the thiophene chain length. The thienylthio derivatives fluoresce with modest quantum yields; conversely, no fluorescence has been detected for their dithienylthio counterparts. 8-Phenyl-3,5-di(thien-2-ylthio)-BODIPY was characterized by X-ray crystallography, which showed the layered arrangement of the molecules. The thienyl fragments of different molecules in the same layer form pairs alike H-aggregates, whereas the BODIPYs moieties in the different layers are arranged in a J-aggregate fashion. Solid fluorescence was observed for these crystals with a broad emission from 600 nm to longer than 850 nm. The CVA results correspond to those for known substituted BODIPYs except for the unusually high current observed for the oxidation process of the dithienyl derivatives with respect to the reduction process. This finding indicates oxidative film deposition.