3-Cyclobutenyl-1,2-dione-Substituted Porphyrins. A General and Efficient Entry to Porphyrin−Quinone and Quinone−Porphyrin−Quinone Architectures ShiXianglin AminSk. Rasidul LiebeskindLanny S. 2000 A new and efficient synthesis of <i>meso</i>-linked porphyrin−quinone dyads and quinone−porphyrin−quinone triads has been developed via the intermediacy of porphyrins bearing 3-cyclobutenyl-1,2-dione and 3-(1-ethenyl)cyclobutenyl-1,2-dione substituents at one or two nonadjacent <i>meso</i>-positions. The free-base porphyrins 5-bromo-10,20-diphenylporphyrin and 5,15-dibromo-10,20-diphenylporphyrin undergo facile palladium-catalyzed Stille coupling with 3-isopropoxy-2-tri-<i>n</i>-butylstannylcyclobutene-1,2-dione to produce the corresponding mono- and bis(3-cyclobutenyl-1,2-dione)-substituted porphyrins in good yields. In contrast, the zinc bromoporphyrins reacted with the same tin reagent only slowly and with the formation of side products. The free-base bromoporphyrins also were coupled with tri-<i>n</i>-butylvinyltin to afford vinylporphyrins in very good yields. 5,15-Diphenyl-10-vinylporphyrin was converted into <i>trans</i>-bromovinylporphyrin, which underwent facile Stille coupling with 3-isopropoxy-2-tri-<i>n</i>-butylstannylcyclobutene-1,2-dione to afford the vinylogous 3-cyclobutenyl-1,2-dione-substituted porphyrin. The molecular structure of 5,15-bis(3-cyclobutenyl-1,2-dione)-10,20-diphenylporphyrin(Zn) was determined by X-ray crystallography. Although the data revealed a fairly large dihedral angle between the cyclobutenedione and the porphyrin rings (57°), the UV−vis spectra of both the mono- and bis(3-cyclobutenyl-1,2-dione)-substituted porphyrins showed B- and Q-band red shifts indicative of strong electronic coupling between the porphyrin and cyclobutenedione chromophores in solution. Introduction of a double bond between the cyclobutenedione and porphyrin rings resulted in a significant red shift of both the B- and Q-bands compared to those of the nonvinylogous system. All porphyrinic cyclobutenediones were metalated with zinc and then, using established cyclobutenedione chemistry, converted into a variety of porphyrin−quinones in excellent yields with aryllithium and vinylic Grignard reagents. From the mono(3-cyclobutenyl-1,2-dione)-substituted porphyrin, <b>7</b>, a variety of directly linked monoquinone−porphyrin dyads were easily synthesized. Substituents could also be introduced at the free <i>meso</i>-position of <b>7</b> by bromination followed by palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions, and additional porphyrinic monoquinones were then prepared from these starting materials. The vinylogous squarylporphyrin was converted into a double bond linked porphyrin−quinone via reaction with phenyllithium followed by thermal rearrangement and oxidation. As a result of the hindered rotation around the C−C bond between the porphyrin and the quinone, pairs of stable, separable, and thermally interconvertable atropisomers of porphyrin−quinones were obtained from 5,15-bis(3-cyclobutenyl-1,2-dione)-10,20-diphenylporphyrin(Zn). The structure of one of the atropisomers was determined by X-ray crystallography.