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Updated: Jul 18, 2026

Isotopic Effect in Double Proton Transfer Process of Porphycene Investigated by Enhanced QM/MM Method
Published on: July 19, 2019
Electronic effects of peripheral substituents at porphyrin meso positions
Yaoqiu Zhu1, Richard B Silverman
1Department of Chemistry, Center for Drug Discovery and Chemical Biology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208-3113, USA.
Abstract:
Porphyrins are stable molecules with a macrocyclic conjugated system and often peripheral substituents. This unique structure makes the electronic properties of the four meso-carbons (the methine bridges) nearly identical. Replacement of the weakly electron-polarizing 2,4-vinyl groups of protoporphyrin IX with strongly electron-polarizing acetyl groups not only leads to much lower meso-carbon reactivities toward electrophilic aromatic substitution but also results in a significant meso-selectivity (the beta- and gamma-meso-positions become much more nucleophilic (basic) than the alpha- and delta-meso-positions). To further investigate the relationship between the porphyrin meso-carbon reactivities and the peripheral substituents, two monoacetylporphyrin analogues also were synthesized. This investigation not only leads to empirical rules for predicting porphyrin meso-carbon selectivities but also provides important models for theoretical calculations of porphyrin aromaticity.
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