New strapped porphyrins as hosts for fullerenes: synthesis and complexation study

New strapped porphyrin-based hosts with different π-conjugated moieties and linkers have been prepared and their ability to bind with fullerenes was studied in dilute solution. We found that the ability of these hosts to bind with fullerenes strongly depends on their chemical nature and more precisely on the substitution pattern of the porphyrin deck. As expected, the more electron-rich hosts containing either an exTTF or a porphyrin unit as the strap bind fullerenes more efficiently with association constants of up to 3.9 × 10(5) M(-1). The results clearly demonstrate the potential of such hosts as a supramolecular scaffold for surface immobilization of pristine fullerenes.