The temperature dependence of absorption and fl uorescence spectra of 5,10,15,20-tetrakis-(4-sulfonatophenyl)porphyrin in weakly acidic aqueous solutions was studied in the range 288-333 K. The fraction of molecules in the free-base form in the ground (S 0 ) and lower excited singlet states (S 1 ) was found to increase as the temperature increased because the fraction of molecules in the doubly protonated form decreased. The deprotonation was caused by a shift in the acid-base equilibrium in the macrocycle core due to decreases in pK a (S 0 ) and pK a (S 1 ) with increasing temperature. The difference pK a (S 1 ) -pK a (S 0 ) < 0 for solution temperatures >293 K with pK a (S 1 ) -pK a (S 0 ) > 0 for T < 293 K. The activation energies of deprotonation in the S 0 -and S 1 -states for T > 293 K were E a = 5.0 and 3.4 kJ/mol; for T < 293 K, they increased to 20.3 and 56.2 kJ/mol. These differences were explained by different specifi c solvation of the tetrapyrrole macrocycle in the ground S 0 -and lower excited S 1 -states because of a change in the ratio of two forms of water. So-called form A with disordered H-bonds dominated at higher temperatures. The fractions of forms A and B, which possessed a strongly ordered H-bond system, were comparable as the temperature decreased. Stabilization of the porphyrin free base prevailed at high temperatures; of the doubly protonated form, at low temperatures.