Imidazolium Porphyrins as Precursors to Porphyrin Arrays
Alison G. Hyslop, Department of Chemistry, St. John's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Rukya Ali, Virgnia Seng, Farah Charles Pierre, Weici Fang and Xuilan Wang, St. John’s University Students
Abstract
Porphyrin arrays are ubiquitous in nature and play a key role in light-harvesting processes in photosynthesis through absorbing light energy and transferring the energy to a reaction center. Our research interests lie in forming porphyrin arrays through novel binding modes to metal centers. We have recently synthesized and characterized a series of porphyrins with imidazole groups incorporated onto the porphyrin periphery and we have begun to investigate the binding of the imidazole to metal to form porphyrin arrays. The imidazole ring affords two binding sites, the unsubstituted nitrogen can act as a Lewis base to coordinate to a metal or by substituting both nitrogens, the N-heterocyclic carbene can be formed and this carbene used to bind to metals. We will describe the formation and the electronic properties of the compounds.