The novel five- and seven-membered ring appended aminoporphyrazines 3 and 12 have been prepared via mixed Linstead macrocyclization. The structures of both have been unequivocally established by X-ray crystallographic studies. Reductive deselenation of selenadiazole 3 in the presence of 9,10-phenanthrenequinone or 2,3-butanedione results in the formation of pyrazines 6a,b, whereas oxidation of porphyrazine 12 gave the corresponding seco derivative 14. seco-Porphyrazine 14 mediates the generation of singlet oxygen with a quantum yield of 0.74.

Base-catalyzed cross condensation of dipropylmaleonitrile 1 with bis(dimethylamino)maleonitrile 2 in an equimolar ratio afforded the porphyrazines 3a, 4a, 5a, 6a and 7a. Subsequent demetalation of 5a with TFA followed by remetalation with Zn(OAc)(2) gave ligand 5c in good yield. Compound 5c was, in turn, selectively oxidized and further peripherally functionalized using Pt(PhCN)(2)Cl(2) and PdCl(2) to yield the novel seco solitaire porphyrazines 10a and 10b. The photophysical profiles of the seco solitaire porphyrazines 10a and 10b were evaluated by means of absorption, emission, and transient absorption spectroscopy. The new pigments 10a and 10b were found to be photochemically more stable than the solitaire complexes 3d and 3e and mediated the generation of singlet oxygen with quantum yields of 0.59 and 0.45, respectively.

No abstract

We report on the efficient photooxidation of hexapropyl bis(dimethylamino) zinc porphyrazine. The process is shown to be autocatalytic. The triplet state of the seco-ZnPz sensitizes the formation of excited-state singlet oxygen with a quantum yield of 0.54 and subsequent cleavage of the pyrrole double bond occurs to give the product, seco-zinc porphyrazine. The photophysics of the two porphyrazines is examined using absorption, emission, and transient absorption spectroscopy. The efficiency of production of singlet oxygen is monitored using the phosphorescence emission signature at 1270 nm.