Molecular tectonics: control of pore size and polarity in 3-D hexagonal coordination networks based on porphyrins and a zinc cation

In the crystalline phase, porphyrin derivatives based on two 4-pyridyl units at the 5 and 15 meso positions and two 4-aryl moieties bearing various groups (CN, OMe, OH and CF(3)) at the 10 and 20 meso positions lead, in the presence of a zinc dication, to the formation of robust 3-D networks presenting hexagonal channels: both the size and the polarity of the pores were tuned by the nature of the substituents attached to the two aryl groups.