On self-assembly of porphyrinoids; a study in Chemical Communications
06 11 2025
Category: Main page, Research highlights
Metal-stabilised catenanes comprising two porphyrinoid-like macrocycles were obtained via the self-assembly of bipyrrole and dipyrromethane dialdehydes with bipyridyl-based diamine in the presence of a metal template in the group of prof. Bartosz Szyszko from the Faculty of Chemistry, University of Wrocław. Reported architectures exhibited conformational flexibility and distinct photophysical properties, with dipyrrin-based systems displaying strong luminescence. Computational studies performed by prof. Bartosz Trzaskowski from the Chemical and Biological Systems Simulation Laboratory, Centre of New Technologies, University of Warsaw gave atomistic details of the high flexibility of these systems and allowed to understand the relationship between their structure and strong luminescence.
This work established an approach to constructing supramolecular architectures based on porphyrinoid structural motifs. It is believed that the synthetic accessibility of porphyrinoid-like interlocked assemblies opens the way to complex structures whose reactivity, dynamics, or optical properties are governed by the principal coordination motif. Further efforts in this direction will enable the development of increasingly sophisticated interlocked systems, including molecular knots incorporating pyrrole-based elements, i.e., knotaphyrins, thereby further blurring the boundaries between MIMs and porphyrinoid chemistry.
A. Sarwa, M. Matviyishyn, J.P. Perdek, B. Trzaskowski, D. Kulesza, E. Zych, B. Szyszko, “Mechanically Interlocked Porphyrinoids: Self-Assembly of Metal-Stabilised Catenaphyrins”, ChemComm, accepted. doi: 10.1039/D5CC05702G