Effect of metal and substituents on the quasi-line spectra of some metalloporphyrins

Absorption spectra are reported for a number of metalloporphyrins in n-octane. For ZnP and PdP, sharp quasi-lines with linewidths ≈4 cm^?1 are observed at 15 and 35 K, respectively. The narrowest linewidths for PtP are ≈12 cm at 15 K, while NiP and CuP show no quasi-linear structure. In these latter cases, quasi-linewidth is attributed to electronic radiationless decay of the visible excited state. The various vibronic bands within Q(1, 0) are tabulated. The quasi-line structures for several zinc porphyrins at 77 K are also reported. Generally, these are not as sharp as those found in ZnP; in particular, Zn tetraphenyl porphin shows no quasi-linear structure. In these cases, the quasi-line structure is attributed to inhomogeneous broadening.