A new approach to the synthesis of porphyrin-fullerene dyads

A new synthetic approach to porphyrin-fullerene dyads utilizing tetraphenylporphyrin (TPP) and three novel reactions (vicarious nucleophilic substitution, metathesis, and [4+2]-cycloaddition to fullerene) is described. 5-(4-Nitrophenyl)-10,15,20-triphenylporphyrin zinc complex reacts with the carbanion of chloromethyl para-tolyl sulphone (which bears a leaving group Cl at the carbanionic center), affording the nucleophilic substitution of hydrogen product containing a CH2SO2Tol group. The product obtained when alkylated with an alkyl halide (bearing an acetylenic function in the terminal position), followed by the cross-enyne metathesis reaction (with the use of an efficient ruthenium catalyst), resulted in the formation of a TPP-diene building block. Its Diels-Alder reaction with C60-fullerene led to the title dyad--a new artificial photosynthetic model. This method opens up the possibility for synthesis of dyads with variable distances between chromophores, depending on the type of the alkyl halides used.