The copper(II) ion incorporation reactions into 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(pentafluorophenyl)porphyrin (H2tpfpp) to
form the Cu(tpfpp) complex have been kinetically investigated with bis(β-diketonato)copper(II) complexes
(CuL2) such as bis(1,1,1,5,5,5-hexafluoropentane-2,4-dionato)copper(II) (Cu(hfac)2), bis(1,1,1-trifluoropentane-2,4-dionato)copper(II) (Cu(tfac)2), bis(2,2,6,6-tetramethylheptane-3,5-dionato)copper(II) (Cu(hmac)2), and bis(pentane-2,4-dionato)copper(II) (Cu(acac)2) in supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) using a previously developed
stopped-flow instrument and spectrophotometric cell. Saturation dependence was observed for the conditional
first-order rate constants (k
obs) as a function of the mole fraction of excess CuL2 (x
Cu): k
obs = k
2
K
1
x
Cu/(1 +
K
1
x
Cu), where K
1 is the preequilibrium constant for the fast outer sphere association between H2tpfpp and
CuL2 and k
2 is the first-order rate constant for the rate-determining copper(II) ion incorporation into the
porphyrin core. Under constant temperature (333 K) and pressure (20.0 MPa), the K
1 values are in the order
of Cu(hfac)2 < Cu(tfac)2 < Cu(hmac)2 < Cu(acac)2; this trend has been interpreted by the differences in the
solvation energy of the CuL2 complexes in scCO2 and in the electrostatic repulsion between H2tpfpp and
CuL2 anticipated in the outer sphere association complex. On the other hand, the k
2 values are in the following
order: Cu(hfac)2 > Cu(tfac)2 > Cu(hmac)2 > Cu(acac)2. This order may be explained by the affinity of
CuL2 for the nucleophile of the pyrrolenine nitrogen, the easiness of dissociation of the β-diketonate ligand,
and the electrostatic repulsion between H2tpfpp and CuL2. The thermodynamic and kinetic parameters in
scCO2 were obtained as follows: K
1 = (5.2 ± 0.1) × 104 (333 K, 20.0 MPa), ΔH
1
° = 76 ± 2 kJ mol-1 (20.0
MPa), ΔS
1
° = (3.2 ± 0.7) × 102 J mol-1 K-1 (20.0 MPa), ΔV
1
° = (7.9 ± 0.6) × 102 cm3 mol-1 (333 K), k
2
= (2.7 ± 0.3) × 10-4 s-1 (333 K, 20.0 MPa), Δ‡
H
2
° = −49 ± 9 kJ mol-1 (20.0 MPa), Δ‡
S
2
° =
(−4.6 ± 0.3) × 102 J mol-1 K-1 (20.0 MPa), and Δ‡
V
2
° = (−4.4 ± 0.6) × 102 cm3 mol-1 (333 K). In
addition, the reaction of H2tpfpp with Cu(hfac)2 has been studied in n-hexane in order to compare the results
in scCO2 with those in a conventional nonpolar solvent.