Adaptation of the Rothemund reaction for carbaporphyrin synthesis: preparation of meso-tetraphenylazuliporphyrin and related benzocarbaporphyrins

Electrophilic substitution of azulene has recently been shown to provide the means by which carbon-carbon bonds can be generated to form novel macrocyclic systems such as calixazulenes. These studies inspired us to develop a "one-pot" Rothemund-type synthesis of meso-tetraphenylazuliporphyrin. Azuliporphyrins, a group of cross-conjugated carbaporphyrinoids that exhibit intriguing chemistry and metallation properties, have previously only been available by multistep syntheses. In this work, azulene, pyrrole and benzaldehyde were shown to react in a 1:3:4 ratio in the presence of boron trifluoride etherate to give meso-tetraphenylazuliporphyrin 7a. The free base shows only a minor diatropic ring current, but addition of TFA generates the related dication which shows greatly enhanced diatropicity where the internal CH shifts from delta = +3.35 to -0.5 ppm. Addition of pyrrolidine to 7a gave rise to a carbaporphyrin adduct which showed a porphyrin-like UV/Vis spectrum and the internal CH shifted further upfield to give a resonance near delta = -5.7 ppm. Treatment of 7a with tertbutyl hydroperoxide in the presence of potassium hydroxide afforded a mixture of benzocarbaporphyrins 9a-c. These tetraphenylcarbaporphyrins were fully aromatic by NMR spectroscopy and gave typical porphyrin-type UV/Vis spectra with a strong Soret band near 446 nm. This new methodology makes these important porphyrin analogues readily available for further study.