Novel pyrazoline and pyrazole porphyrin derivatives: synthesis and photophysical properties

2-Vinyl-5,10,15,20-tetraphenylporphyrinatozinc(II) reacts with nitrile imines, generated in situ from ethyl hydrazono-α-bromoglyoxylates, affording the corresponding pyrazolines in good to excellent yields. Treatment of pyrazoline derivatives with DDQ affords the corresponding pyrazole derivatives with moderate to excellent yields. When the hydrolysis of ester group in the pyrazoline derivatives was considered, it was observed the concomitant oxidation of the heterocyclic unit, which allowed directly obtaining porphyrin-pyrazole derivatives with a carboxylic group, in very good yields. The photophysical properties of the pyrazoline and pyrazole porphyrin derivatives show that the influence of the heterocyclic substituents is limited by the tendency of these molecules to aggregate. All other properties and especially the triplet kinetics remain unaffected. The adducts with low tendency to aggregate showed very high singlet oxygen yield, which makes these compounds interesting for their use as photosensitizers for PDT.