Coumarin-Tetrapyrrolic Macrocycle Conjugates: Synthesis and Applications

This review covers the synthesis of coumarin-porphyrin, coumarin-phthalocyanine and coumarin-corrole conjugates and their potential applications. While coumarin-phthalocyanine conjugates were obtained almost exclusively by tetramerization of coumarin-functionalized phthalonitriles, coumarin-porphyrin and coumarin-corrole conjugates were prepared by complementary approaches: (a) direct synthesis of the tetrapyrrolic macrocycle using formylcoumarins and pyrrole or (b) by functionalization of the tetrapyrrolic macrocycle. In the last approach a range of reaction types were used, namely 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions, hetero-Diels-Alder, Sonogashira, alkylation or acylation reactions. This is clearly a more versatile approach, leading to a larger diversity of conjugates and allowing the access to conjugates bearing one to up to 16 coumarin units.