Palladium catalysts offer a rich and highly versatile chemistry for the syn
thesis of novel porphyrins and phthalocyanines. These mild and flexible rea
ctions have been used extensively in the preparation of interesting porphyr
ins and phthalocyanines, either in the synthesis of substituted precursors
or in the modification of pre-existing macrocycles. For these tetrapyrrolic
compounds, metal-mediated reactions such as these offer extensive benefits
, which have been taken advantage of in order to add novel substituents, sy
nthesize naturally occurring molecules and prepare multi-macrocyclic arrays
. This review gives an overview of the use of palladium catalysts in the sy
nthesis of porphyrins and phthalocyanines along with the applications of so
me of the compounds prepared. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.