Spectral Manifestations of Anion-Cation Interactions of Water-Soluble Porphyrins

The influence of anion-cation interactions on the structure and electronic absorption spectra of cationic 5,10,15,20-tetrakis-(4-N-methylpyridyl)porphyrin and anionic 5,10,15,20-tetrakis-(4-sulfonatophenyl)porphyrin has been investigated by absorption spectroscopy and molecular modeling. It is shown that the shifts of bands in the electronic absorption spectra appearing when passing from aqueous solutions to solutions in organic solvents are due to the interaction of ionized peripheral substituents of the porphyrin macrocycle with counterions. The bathochromic shift of the Q _x transition is due to the influence of counterions on the energy characteristics of the molecule itself, primarily, as a result of Coulomb interactions changing the relative position of the orbitals and the distribution of electron density on them. The hypsochromic shift of the Q _y transition is a consequence of the increase in the dihedral angle between the plane of the porphyrin macrocycle and the aromatic rings with ionized groups due to the decrease in the -electron interaction between them under the action of counterions.