Facile syntheses of quater-, penta-, and sexipyrroles

alpha,alpha-Linked oligopyrroles are attractive precursors for both expanded porphyrin and conducting polymer chemistry. We demonstrate facile methods for synthesizing quater-, penta-, and sexipyrroles from more readily available bi- and terpyrrole intermediates. These products demonstrate stability in their brightly colored oxidized forms, while reduction using borohydride reagents gives the corresponding all-pyrrole oligomers, which oxidize readily in air. The oxidized quater- and sexipyrroles were characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis.