Porphyrin Synthesis in Water Provides New Expanded Porphyrins with Direct Bipyrrole Linkages: Isolation and Characterization of Two Heptaphyrins

Abstract
The use of water for the porphyrin cyclization changes the products completely. Scandium-catalyzed aqueous condensation between pentafluorobenzaldehyde and pyrrole and subsequent oxidation provides novel expanded porphyrins with direct bipyrrole linkages, of which two novel heptaphyrins have been characterized by X-ray analyses.