A series of 5,15-meso,meso-strapped nonplanar porphyrins with different degrees of ruffling distortion, as a model system, have been synthesized and characterized. The spectral red-shift of the nonplanar porphyrins was experimentally demonstrated to mainly originate from the hybrid orbital deformation (HOD) effect due to the distortion in the tetrapyrrole macrocycle, which confirmed previous explanations to the red-shift phenomenon.

It was demonstrated experimentally that nonplanar iron porphyrins can be induced to undergo a conversion in their electronic configuration to form a cross-hybrid transition by compressing the macrocyclic core size for the central metal ion. A series of monostrapped iron porphyrins were used as model systems, and their electronic properties were probed using electron spin resonance and differential spectral analyses. These results indicate that the formation of a cross-hybrid transition stage is related to the stability of the high-valence state and potent oxidizing ability of the central iron ion.

Three saddle-type nonplanar zinc porphyrins strapped by two short alkyl linkers have been synthesized. The deformation induced by the linkers can cause a spectral red shift of >30 nm compared with the absorption maxima of regular porphyrins and can also regulate the electronic structure of the central zinc(II) ion. The zinc(II) ion then complexes and activates a free dioxygen to form a superoxide group ligand by enlarging the splitting of energy levels of d orbitals under strong core deformation. The fixation of dioxygen can be reasonably explained by the Dewar-Chatt-Duncanson model. These results indicate that this type of saddle porphyrin has the potential to be used as a new model system of heme.

The core size of the porphyrin macrocycles was closely related to their stability of the different electron structure in the central metal ion. Cobalt(II) ions can undergo a conversion in electron configurations upon N4 core contraction of 0.05 Å in nonplanar porphyrins, and these ions still maintain low spin forms after and before conversion. The structural fine-tuning can induce the appearance of a cross-hybrid stage [d(x(2)-y(2))sp(2) ↔ d(z(2))sp(2)] based on quadrilateral coordination of the planar core. The results indicate that the configuration conversion plays a key role in electron transfer in redox catalysis involving cobalt complexes. The electronic properties of six monostrapped cobalt(II) porphyrins were investigated by spectral, paramagnetic, and electrochemical methods. The macrocyclic deformations and size parameters of Co-containing model compounds were directly obtained from their crystal structures.

Ruffle- and dome-type porphyrins were developed as model systems to investigate the role of deformation mode and degree of distortion in heme. Their crystal structures revealed that as the degree of distortion increases, cavity size can be contracted in the ruffle mode and expanded in the dome mode, and the size of cavity can exceed the limit of free metal ions from the fourth period (see scheme).