Abstract
The synthesis of protoporphyrins III and XIII as the dimethyl esters has been completed by an oxidative cyclization of biladiene-ac intermediates. Protoporphyrin III has been converted into deuteroporphyrin III and measurements of the proton coupling constant in the allylic unit, CH3-C=C-H, of this latter porphyrin point to the double bond of this system having a significantly diminished bond order. This finding is in accord with the view that the π-electron delocalization pathway in the porphyrin macrocycle involves the periphery of the molecule.