Facile synthesis of a bis-linked dioxocyclam porphyrin

Reaction of the 5,15-di-(2-alkylamidophenyl)-etioporphyrin 3 (α,α-atropisomer) with the ‘self-trans-diprotected’ dioxocyclam 4 leads easily, in only two steps, to a new symmetrical dioxocyclam porphyrin 5 in an overall 41% yield. This ligand is a precursor of models of cytochromes. All the compounds have been fully characterized by elemental analysis, mass spectrometry and UV-vis, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR and ¹H–¹³C heteronuclear correlation NMR spectroscopies. X-ray structural data are presented for the Zn(II) porphyrin 6 confirming that the porphyrin and the dioxocyclam adopt cofacial orientations. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.