Tetra- and Octapyrroles Synthesized from Confusion and Fusion Approaches

By oxidation of an alternately N-confused bilane in CH2Cl2, a C–N fused tetrapyrrin was synthesized that bears a 5.5.5-tricyclic ring generated from an intramolecular C–N linkage. When CH3CN was used as the reaction medium, a multiply C–N-fused octapyrrolic dimer was also obtained that contained two 5.5.5.7.5-pentacyclic moieties and a bipyrrole unit generated from the intramolecular C–N linkage and intermolecular C–C linkage, respectively. This could be coordinated with Ni­(acac)2 to afford a mixed-ligand complex.