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Title: Unusual aryl-porphyrin rotational barriers in peripherally crowded porphyrins.

Journal Article · · Proposed for publication in Inorganic Chemistry.
OSTI ID:990090

Previous studies of 5,10,15,20-tetraarylporphyrins have shown that the barrier for meso aryl-porphyrin rotation ({Delta}G{sub ROT}) varies as a function of the core substituent M and is lower for a small metal (M = Ni) compared to a large metal (M = Zn) and for a dication (M 4H{sup 2+}) versus a free base porphyrin (M = 2H). This has been attributed to changes in the nonplanar distortion of the porphyrin ring and the deformability of the macrocycle caused by the core substituent. In the present work, X-ray crystallography, molecular mechanics (MM) calculations, and variable temperature (VT) {sup 1}H NMR spectroscopy are used to examine the relationship between the aryl-porphyrin rotational barrier and the core substituent M in some novel 2,3,5,7,8,10,12,13,15,17,18,20-dodecaarylporphyrins (DArPs), and specifically in some 5,10,15,20-tetraaryl-2,3,7,8,12,13,17,18-octaphenylporphyrins (TArOPPs), where steric crowding of the peripheral groups always results in a very nonplanar macrocycle. X-ray structures of DArPs indicate differences in the nonplanar conformation of the macrocycle as a function of M, with saddle conformations being observed for M = Zn, 2H or M = 4H{sup 2+} and saddle and/or ruffle conformations for M = Ni. VT NMR studies show that the effect of protonation in the TArOPPs is to increase {Delta}G{sub ROT}, which is the opposite of the effect seen for the TArPs, and MM calculations also predict a strikingly high barrier for the TArOPPs when M = 4H{sup 2+}. These and other findings suggest that the aryl-porphyrin rotational barriers in the DArPs are closely linked to the deformability of the macrocycle along a nonplanar distortion mode which moves the substituent being rotated out of the porphyrin plane.

Research Organization:
Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), Albuquerque, NM, and Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC04-94AL85000
OSTI ID:
990090
Report Number(s):
SAND2003-2364J; INOCAJ; TRN: US201020%%123
Journal Information:
Proposed for publication in Inorganic Chemistry., Vol. 42, Issue 7; ISSN 0020-1669
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English