Metalloporphyrins in Polymeric Matrices, Micelles, and Vesicles, V. 5‐(1′‐Methyl‐4,4′‐bipyridinium‐1‐yl)Octaethylporphyrin Dichloride, a meso‐Viologenporphyrinate

The water‐soluble zinc complex of the title compound was obtained by thallium(III) nitrate oxidation of zinc octaethylporphyrinate in the presence of 4,4′‐bipyridine and subsequent treatment with methyl iodide and acid. An absorption band at 330 nm was observed in the electronrich zinc complex and deprotonated dianion which was absent in the spectrum of the free base porphyrin. Another new absorption band at 750 nm was found in the diprotonated porphyrin dication if its bipyridinium substituent was reduced by zinc to the viologen radical. — A solution of methylviologen zinc porphyrinate in negatively charged ditetradecylsulfosuccinate vesicles was not reduced by dithionite. In electroneutral lecithin vesicles reduction to the viologen radical was observed.