Synthesis of Meso-tetraarylporphyrins and in Situ Producing the Valuable Nanoparticles as a Byproduct: Potential Application in Solar Cells

Meso-Tetraarylporphyrins are synthesized from pyrrole and aryl aldehydes cleanly and efficiently using an equimolar amount of Cr(HSO4)3 in the presence of chloranil as oxidant. Also, for the first time, meso-tetraphenylporphyrinogen is oxidized by HAuCl4 to obtain meso-tetraphenylporphyrin and valuable gold nanoparticles as byproduct, in good yield. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis indicated that spherical gold nanoparticles in the 25 diameter were obtained in the presence of meso-tetraphenylporphyrinogen at room temperature without using any capping agents. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) supports the presence of tetraphenylporphyrin dye molecules on the surface of gold nanoparticles. These obtained gold nanoparticles could be used for various unknown and known applications, especially for designing efficient dye sensitized solar cells, selective catalysts and photodynamic therapy agents.