Direct Amination of meso‐Tetraarylporphyrin Derivatives – Easy Route to A3B‐, A2BC‐, and A2B2‐Type Porphyrins Bearing Two Nitrogen‐Containing Substituents at the meso‐Positioned Phenyl Groups

meso‐Tetraarylporphyrinato complexes 1a – g (Zn^II, Cu^II, and Ni^II) bearing one or two nitro‐substituted aryl moieties react with 1,1,1‐trimethylhydrazinium iodide in the presence of ^tBuOK in THF at 0–5° or in the presence of KOH in DMSO at 60–70° according to a nucleophilic substitution of an H‐atom, thus affording porphyrins 2a – g and 3f , g with amino‐functionalized meso‐positioned aryl substituents in yields up to 73% (Scheme 1 and Table). The products obtained are attractive intermediates for further derivatization of porphyrins and may be of potential use as sensitizers in photodynamic cancer therapy.