Terpyridine–Porphyrin Hetero‐Pacman Compounds

The two different coordination spheres afforded by Pacman architectures offer cooperativity derived from two different metal centers. A modular strategy is developed to produce a hetero‐Pacman scaffold featuring a porphyrin and terpyridine for metal‐ion binding. A double Suzuki reaction was employed to first attach a terpyridine moiety to a xanthene backbone and then attach a porphyrin. The new hetero‐Pacman scaffold has been characterized and all building blocks have been isolated and structurally characterized. The principle objective to incorporate different metal centers was confirmed by isolating a trinuclear complex comprising two porphyrinic units and a bis(terpyridine)–iron unit. The compounds described herein expand the Pacman scaffold concept by allowing for the incorporation of a terpyridine–metal complex proximate to a porphyrin‐cofactor active site for small‐molecule activation.