Enhancing solution-phase supramolecular interactions between monomeric porphyrins and [60]fullerene by simple chemical modification

The supramolecular interactions of N-methylporphyrin and iridium porphyrin with C₆₀ in toluene solution were investigated using NMR spectroscopy and absorption spectroscopy. Our results demonstrate that both the N-methylation and iridium metalation of porphyrin are effective means to enhance the binding affinity to C₆₀, resulting in 1:1 complexation for N-methylporphyrin/C₆₀ and 2:1 complexation for iridium porphyrin/C₆₀.