Narrow Results

As ²¹³Bi, a spontaneous alpha-emitting radioisotope, and ¹⁰B, a neutron-activated source of alpha particles, have been found to be potential tools in the treatment of cancer patients, a novel bismuth porphyrin, bearing both boron atoms and a strap with a hanging carboxylic group, was synthesized.

A comparative study of bismuth complexation by various porphyrins which differ according to the structural scaffold – either picket(s) or strap(s) – that deliver the carboxylic acid groups close to the metal, has been performed. Unlike strapped porphyrins, and although more flexible, the picket ligands do not lead to more stable bismuth complexes.

We report the condensation of 3-chloromethyl-benzoyl chloride with two atropisomers ααββ and αβαβ of meso-5,10,15,20-tetrakis-(2-amino)phenylporphyrin (TAPP), followed by the reaction of the anion of either cyano-acetic acid ethyl ester or (4-nitro-phenyl)-acetic acid ethyl ester to prepare various pre-organized strapped porphyrins. These two reagents were selected as both allow the easy formation of the anion in the α position of the ester group while their electron-withdrawing group (EWG) can be further transformed in a reactive functional group. In the ααββ series, this reaction leads to three isomeric porphyrins differing only by the location of their ethoxycarbonyl groups, oriented either towards the center of the porphyrin or maintained outside of the cavity. In the αβαβ series, as expected, a single porphyrin is obtained in which both straps bear an ethoxycarbonyl group, precursor of a hanging carboxylic function and a cyano or a 4-nitro-phenyl group, which can be reduced to an amine function, suitable for the coupling on a biomolecule.

We report the solid-state structure of an unexpected trinuclear zinc dimeric porphyrin complex resulting of zinc insertion into a single strap porphyrin. The latter bears an overhanging carboxylic acid which usually interacts with metal cations either in out-of-plane (OOP) or in hanging-atop (HAT) coordination mode by changing its location above the porphyrin coordination site. However, in the present studies, the overhanging carboxylic group acts as a bidentate ligand and binds the OOP-bound zinc cation together with another zinc cation bridging two porphyrin units.