NH-tautomerism effects and isocyclic substitution in alkylporphyrins and their chemical dimers

Abstract

A study has been made of the absorption spectra, circular dichroism in a magnetic field (MCD), and polarized fluorescence of individual NH-tautomers of free-base porphyrins with asymmetric substitution. The four-orbital model of Gouterman and the perimeter model of Michl have been used in demonstrating that, in spite of the basic differences in type of electronic spectra of the two NH-tautomers of each compound, their absorption spectra in the visible region are described by a system of two linear oscillators X and Y. The fluorescence polarization spectra of the tautomers in the region of band III are extremely sensitive to changes in the side substituents in the isocycle. From an analysis of the sign sequence of electronic bands in the MCD spectra, it has been established that these compounds may be classed as “hard” chromophores with identical type of orbital splitting for the HOMO (b1 and b2) and LUMO (c2 and c2) in the two tautomers of one and the same compound. A specific role has been found for the keto group in the isocycle, as manifested in inversion of the sign sequence of electronic bands in the MCD spectra of NH-tautomers with a cyclopentanone ring.