Article Synthesis and Properties of Bis-Porphyrin Molecular Tweezers: Effects of Spacer Flexibility on Binding and Supramolecular Chirogenesis Magnus Blom 1, Sara Norrehed 1, Claes-Henrik Andersson 1, Hao Huang 1, Mark E. Light 2, Jonas Bergquist 1, Helena Grennberg 1 and Adolf Gogoll 1,* Received: 25 October 2015 ; Accepted: 7 December 2015 ; Published: 23 December 2015 Academic Editor: M. Graça P. M. S. Neves 1 Department of Chemistry-BMC, Uppsala University, Uppsala S-75123, Sweden;
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[email protected]; Tel.: +46-184-713-822 Abstract: Ditopic binding of various dinitrogen compounds to three bisporphyrin molecular tweezers with spacers of varying conformational rigidity, incorporating the planar enediyne (1), the helical stiff stilbene (2), or the semi-rigid glycoluril motif fused to the porphyrins (3), are compared. Binding 4 6 ´1 constants Ka = 10 –10 M reveal subtle differences between these tweezers, that are discussed in terms of porphyrin dislocation modes. Exciton coupled circular dichroism (ECCD) of complexes with chiral dinitrogen guests provides experimental evidence for the conformational properties of the tweezers. The results are further supported and rationalized by conformational analysis. Keywords: bisporphyrin tweezers; metalloporphyrins; porphyrinoids; host-guest chemistry; supramolecular chemistry; chirogenesis; chirality transfer; exciton coupled circular dichroism; conformational analysis 1.