The Synthesis of 1,3‐ and 1,4‐Phenylene‐Linked Bisquinone‐Substituted Porphyrin Dimers

Structural studies of the photosynthetic reaction center (RC) have revealed that both donor-acceptor distances and inter-macrocycle orientations play a crucial role in mediating the photosynthetic charge separation process. Numerous photosynthetic model systems have already been synthesized and studied in an effort to understand the first of these factors, while intermacrocycle effects have not been thoroughly addressed in model systems. Models with various fixed angles between the porphyrin units have now been synthesized for the first time: the linear 1 and a “gable”-type analogue. Solutions of both compounds in toluene showed no detectable fluorescence when irradiated at 418 nm.