A new one-pot synthesis of μ-oxo dimeric iron(III) porphyrins from meso-tetraarylporphyrins

A new synthesis of μ-oxo dimeric iron(III) porphyrins from meso-tetraarylporphyrins in one-pot procedure is reported. μ-oxo dimeric iron(III) porphyrin was obtained in high yield (up to 93%) from the reaction of meso-tetraarylporphyrin with ferrous chloride in DMF at pH 8–11. Compared with other synthetic methods of μ-oxo dimeric iron(III) porphyrin from meso-tetraarylporphyrins, the one-pot procedure has higher yields of μ-oxo dimeric iron(III) porphyrins and is a simpler and more convenient procedure. In order to evaluate the range of applicability of this method, μ-oxo dimeric iron(III) porphyrins with different substituents were prepared by the reaction of the corresponding meso-tetraarylporphyrins with ferrous chloride. The results showed that it was possible to apply this one-pot procedure to the synthesis of other μ-oxo dimeric iron porphyrins in excellent yields. A mechanism for the formation of μ-oxo dimeric iron porphyrins was proposed based on the reaction intermediates characterized by HPLC and UV-vis methods.