“…In this work, cyclization of di-(2,6-difluorophenyl)maleindinitrile with acetates of the respective metals in boiling ethylene glycol was applied to synthesize and identify Mg(II)- and Zn(II)-octa-(2,6-difluorophenyl)tetraazaporphyrin complexes. The choice of the complexes was prompted by the fact that they are quite easily formed through cyclization of the respective salts with nitriles [ 16 , 18 , 19 , 20 ] and 3-carboxymethylphthalimidines [ 13 , 14 ] (i.e., they are accessible compounds). Additionally, they are also quite interesting because, being rather labile, these complexes are used in metal exchange reactions to prepare more inaccessible complexes of aza-porphyrins with heavy metals and variable valence metals.…”