NANOSTRUCTURES AND ELECTRON-TRANSFER FUNCTIONS OF NONPLANAR PORPHYRINS

This chapter deals with recent developments regarding unique nanostructures and functions of nonplanar porphyrins in comparison with those of planar porphyrins. The self-assembly of nonplanar porphyrins can be exploited to produce discrete porphyrin nanostructures. The facile synthesis and robust nature of these nonplanar porphyrin-based materials allow access to a novel class of nanomaterials with potential applications in important areas such as catalysis, sensors, and solar energy conversion. Thus, utilization of nonplanar porphyrins and their metal complexes may be regarded as a useful strategy to pave a way to a new category of organic nanomaterials. Organic molecular semiconductors showing photoconductivity are important components to develop well-organized photofunctional materials in nanometer scale. In metalloporphyrins, the saddle distortion of the porphyrin plane strengthens the axial coordination, affording stable complexes of electron donor—acceptor ensembles based on axial coordination to the metal center, in which efficient photoinduced electron transfer occurs to produce the electron-transfer state.