Porphyrin sandwich complexes, synthesis

Sandwich complexes of porphyrazines are prepared by direct intercalation of lanthanides between two pz ligands, the route commonly utilized for the preparation of porphyrin sandwich complexes. Interestingly, the synthetic method used for the preparation of bis(phthalocyanines), starting from the dinitrile or the dilithium substituted monophthalocyanine, has never been successfully implemented for the synthesis of porphyrazines (77). 

Coordination compounds composed of tetrapyrrole macrocyclic ligands encompassing a large metal ion in a sandwich-like fashion have been known since 1936 when Linstead and co-workers (67) reported the first synthesis of Sn(IV) bis(phthalocyanine). Numerous homoleptic and heteroleptic sandwich-type or double-decker metal complexes with phthalocyanines (68-70) and porphyrins (71-75) have been studied and structurally characterized. The electrochromic properties of the lanthanide pc sandwich complexes (76) have been investigated and the stable radical bis(phthalocyaninato)lutetium has been found to be the first example of an intrinsic molecular semiconductor (77). In contrast to the wealth of literature describing porphyrin and pc sandwich complexes, re-... 

Other homoleptic Lu(III) sandwich complexes 23, 25 (78), and 27 (34), have been prepared accordingly, as in Scheme 6. Zirconium sandwich complexes have been prepared by the method employed by Kim et al. (80) for the synthesis of zirconium porphyrin double deckers reaction of Zr(lV-Et2)4 with the pz ligands 24 (35%) and 26 (61%) produced the corresponding sandwich complexes (28 and 29) (Scheme 6). 

D.K.R Ng, J. Jiang, K. Kasuga and K. Machida conclude this volume with an overview of rare-earth and actinide half-sandwich tetrapyrrole complexes. When tetrapyrrole molecules, such as porphyrins or phthalocyanines, are reacted with the rare earths and actinides, they are split in half, forming the half-sandwich complexes because the metal atoms are larger than the core size of the macrocyclic ligands. They also can form sandwich-type complexes in which the metal centers are sandwiched between the macrocycles. However, this chapter is devoted to the former class of compounds. Ng and co-workers discuss the synthesis, structure, and spectroscopic and electrochemical properties of half-sandwich complexes of porphyrins and phthalocyanines. The authors... 

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