A new synthetic route to donor–acceptor porphyrins

Some new donor–acceptor porphyrins have been prepared based on a metallated bis(ethynyl) porphyrin core. 4-(Dimethylamino)phenyl was used as the donor group and 4-nitrophenyl, 4-cyanophenyl and 5-nitrothiazoyl as the acceptor groups. Dipyrrylmethane was used for large scale porphyrin ring synthesis because the absence of methylene substituents reduces the difficulty of substituent scrambling that occurs during porphyrin synthesis.