Near‐IR Absorbing Nickel(II) Porphyrinoids Prepared by Regioselective Insertion of Silylenes into Antiaromatic Nickel(II) Norcorrole

Abstract

AbstractThe treatment of an antiaromatic norcorrole NiII complex with a kinetically stabilized silylene provided ring‐expansion products in excellent yields through the highly regio‐ and stereoselective insertion into the β‐β pyrrolic CC bonds. The resultant NiII porphyrinoid monoinsertion product exhibited relatively strong near‐IR absorption bands due to the small HOMO–LUMO gap in spite of the disrupted cyclic π‐conjugation by the silicon atom.