1. Chemistry Department, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02139, U.S.A.;2. Chemistry Department, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dyson Perrins Laboratory, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QY, England
Abstract:
A general route to ‘strapped’ porphyrins which are bridged between diagonally opposite meso-positions is described. Studies on the oxygenation and carbonylation of their iron(II) complexes have shown that they are inferior to ‘capped’ porphyrins as models for the oxygen-carrying haemoproteins. The results reported herein suggest that strapping structures which do not enforce well-defined and rigid cavities for oxygen binding afford little protection against irreversible oxidation of (dioxygen) (porphyrin) iron(II) complexes.