Calculations on the origin of hyperporphyrin spectra in sequentially protonated meso-(dimethylaminophenyl) porphyrins

The spectra of porphyrins meso-substituted by 4-dimethylaminophenyl groups and protonated at the central pyrrole nitrogens show strong new bands in the visible (450–600 nm) and far-red (700–780 nm). On complete protonation the observed spectra are essentially normal except for enhanced intensity in the farthest red band at ∼ 650 nm. The new bands observed with partial protonation have been qualitatively interpreted as hyperporphyrin spectra due to transitions from 'the filled π orbitals on the amino nitrogen atoms… to the porphyrin LUMOs' [Ojadi ECA, Linschitz M, Gouterman M, Walter RI, Lindsey JS, Wagner RW,]. We now report spectra calculated using the CAChe computer program package. The best structures are determined by energy minimization using a semi-empiral AM1 algorithm; a semi-empirical INDO/CI calculation is then used to obtained the excited state transition energies and intensities. The calculated spectra, although generally blue-shifted compared to experiment, reproduce the hyperporphyrin spectra in those cases where they are observed. In these cases, in contrast to species with normal porphyrin spectra, the HOMO or HOMO-1 is not an orbital on the porphyrin ring but is rather a π-orbital on the unprotonated amino nitrogen that extends over the associated phenyl ring. The calculations suggest that the hyperporphyrin transitions are of Ph (π) → Por (π*) origin, where Ph (π) is an orbital on the phenylamine substitutent and Por (π*) is a LUMO on the porphyrin. It is further suggested that in the fully protonated species the intensity enhancement of the farthest red band in an otherwise normal porphyrin spectrum may relate to phenyl character in the HOMO or HOMO-1.