Kinetics of the formation of copper β-octaphenylporphyrin complexes in pyridine and acetic acid

The formation kinetics of copper β-octaphenylporphyrin complexes in pyridine and acetic acid is reported and is compared with that of copper β-octamethylporphyrin and dodecaphenylporphyrin complexes. The introduction of electron-donating or electron-withdrawing substituents in the β-positions of the porphyrin macrocycle change the rate of the complexation reaction by at most one order of magnitude. On passing from the planar porphyrin macrocycle to the heavily distorted one, the rate of the reaction in pyridine (electron donor solvent) and acetic acid (electron acceptor solvent) increases and decreases, respectively, by several orders of magnitude.