Analytical Sciences

Dynamic Study of Metal-Ion Incorporation into Porphyrins Based on the Dynamic Characterization of Metal Ions and on Sitting-Atop Complex Formation

Shigenobu FUNAHASHI,*  Yasuhiro INADA,** and Masahiko INAMO***

*Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry, Graduate School of Science, Nagoya University, Chikusa, Nagoya 464-8602, Japan
**Research Center for Materials Science, Nagoya University, Chikusa, Nagoya 464-8602, Japan
***Department of Chemistry, Aichi University of Education, Igaya, Kariya, Aichi 448-8542, Japan

We succeeded in the detection of the sitting-atop (SAT) copper(II) complex of TPP (5,10,15,20-tetraphenylporphyrin) in acetonitrile (AN) as a solvent with a very low Bronsted basicity, where two pyrrolenine nitrogens in the Cu(II)-SAT complex coordinate to the metal ion and two protons still remain on the pyrrole nitrogens. The structure parameters around the copper(II) ion in the Cu(II)-SAT complex, as determined by a fluorescent EXAFS method, suggest an axially elongated and equatorially distorted six-coordinate geometry. We measured the rates of the formation reaction of the SAT complexes for a series of transition metal(II) ions in AN using the stopped-flow technique. We propose the mechanism where there is a rapid deformation equilibrium of the porphyrin ring prior to the rate-determining step of the bond rupture of a coordinated solvent molecule on the metal(II) ion. Furthermore, we measured the rates of the deprotonation reaction of the Cu(II)-SAT complex by some Bronsted bases and indicated that the rate-determining step is the attack of the base on the proton of the pyrrole nitrogen in the SAT complex. Finally, a unified mechanism relevant to the porphyrin metalation mechanism has been proposed.

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