Synthesis of multi-porphyrin arrays and study of their self-assembly behaviour at the air-water interface

A series of multi-porphyrin arrays were synthesized and the self-assembly b ehaviour of these compounds at the air-water interface was investigated by the Langmuir-Blodgett technique. It was found that as the overall area of t he porphyrin molecules was increased. upon going from a mono- to bis- to a tetra- and then to hexaporphyrin species, the intermolecular stacking betwe en the molecules also increases, resulting in more stable monolayers, In th e case of the hexaporphyrin species the intermolecular interactions are so strong that monolayer formation is irreversible. All porphyrin monolayers c an be transferred to a glass surface with good transfer ratios, leading to highly ordered porphyrin films in which the chromophores are arranged ortho gonal to the glass surface. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons. Ltd.