Synthesis of sulfolenobilins and their cyclization directed to chlorinatozinc-fullerene dyads

A novel chlorinatozinc-fullerene dyad 18 was synthesized to model the photo synthetic reaction center. The synthetic key step for the formation of the dyad 18 is an unusual one-pot reaction of the (sulfolenobilinato) nickel ra c-16a,b with concomitant generation of the chlorin macrocycle and linkage t o the [5,6]fullerene-C-60-I-h. This one-pot reaction is a complex cascade o f single reaction steps with a total yield of 32% and an average yield of 8 3% for the individual steps. The chlorinatozinc-fullerene dyad is so far on e of three examples that contain chlorin moieties, the chromophores in natu rally occurring photosynthetic systems.