Metalloporphyrins as Building Blocks to Supramolecular Architectures with Catalytic Functions

Porphyrin molecules are versatile building blocks that have been used for many different applications. They have been used as catalysts, their properties being very dependent on the metal that is in the core of the porphyrin. They have been also applied as a chromophore, and the light absorbing properties mainly depend on the aromatic ring. Lastly, they have been intensively used as molecular building blocks to construct supramolecular assemblies. For this purpose, mostly zinc(ii) porphyrin building blocks have been used, as their coordination chemistry is predictable, the binding of pyridyl type ligands is reversible and rapid yet of sufficient strength to allow assembly formation under a wide variety of conditions. In principle porphyrin building blocks can also be applied in photocatalysis, using self-assembled structures, thereby using a combination of all the key properties of the porphyrin building block. In this chapter we discuss the application of porphyrin building blocks in this area. We will start with a few examples in the application of self-assembled structures in catalysis, then we provide examples of the use of porphyrin building blocks in photophysics and conclude with the description of the application of self-assembled structures for photocatalysis.