In chemistry, many authors consider an organic compound to be any chemical compound that contains carbon-hydrogen or carbon-carbon bonds, although the definition of "organic" versus "inorganic" varies from author to author, and is a topic of debate. For example, methane is considered organic, but whether halides of carbon without hydrogen are organic or inorganic varies from author to author.
Pyrrole is a heterocyclic, aromatic, organic compound, a five-membered ring with the formula C4H4NH. It is a colorless volatile liquid that darkens readily upon exposure to air. Substituted derivatives are also called pyrroles, e.g., N-methylpyrrole, C4H4NCH3. Porphobilinogen, a trisubstituted pyrrole, is the biosynthetic precursor to many natural products such as heme.
Porphyrins are a group of heterocyclic macrocycle organic compounds, composed of four modified pyrrole subunits interconnected at their α carbon atoms via methine bridges (=CH−). In vertebrates, an essential member of the porphyrin group is heme, which is a component of hemoproteins, whose functions include carrying oxygen in the bloodstream. In plants, an essential porphyrin derivative is chlorophyll, which is involved in light-harvesting and electron transfer in photosynthesis.
In organic chemistry, chlorins are tetrapyrrole pigments that are partially hydrogenated porphyrins. The parent chlorin is an unstable compound which undergoes air oxidation to porphine. The name chlorin derives from chlorophyll. Chlorophylls are magnesium-containing chlorins and occur as photosynthetic pigments in chloroplasts. The term "chlorin" strictly speaking refers to only compounds with the same ring oxidation state as chlorophyll.
Diethyl malonate, also known as DEM, is the diethyl ester of malonic acid. It occurs naturally in grapes and strawberries as a colourless liquid with an apple-like odour, and is used in perfumes. It is also used to synthesize other compounds such as barbiturates, artificial flavourings, vitamin B1, and vitamin B6.
Phthalocyanine is a large, aromatic, macrocyclic, organic compound with the formula (C8H4N2)4H2 and is of theoretical or specialized interest in chemical dyes and photoelectricity.
Tetrapyrroles are a class of chemical compounds that contain four pyrrole or pyrrole-like rings. The pyrrole/pyrrole derivatives are linked by, in either a linear or a cyclic fashion. Pyrroles are a five-atom ring with four carbon atoms and one nitrogen atom. Tetrapyrroles are common cofactors in biochemistry and their biosynthesis and degradation feature prominently in the chemistry of life.
Porphine or porphin is an organic chemical compound with formula C20H14N4. The molecule, which is flat, consists of four pyrrole-like rings joined by four methine (=CH−) groups to form a larger macrocycle ring, which makes it the simplest of the tetrapyrroles. It is classified as an aromatic and heterocyclic compound.
Uroporphyrinogen III synthase is an enzyme involved in the metabolism of the cyclic tetrapyrrole compound porphyrin. It is involved in the conversion of hydroxymethyl bilane into uroporphyrinogen III. This enzyme catalyses the inversion of the final pyrrole unit of the linear tetrapyrrole molecule, linking it to the first pyrrole unit, thereby generating a large macrocyclic structure, uroporphyrinogen III. The enzyme folds into two alpha/beta domains connected by a beta-ladder, the active site being located between the two domains.
Porphobilinogen (PBG) is an organic compound that occurs in living organisms as an intermediate in the biosynthesis of porphyrins, which include critical substances like hemoglobin and chlorophyll.
Uroporphyrinogen III is a tetrapyrrole, the first macrocyclic intermediate in the biosynthesis of heme, chlorophyll, vitamin B12, and siroheme. It is a colorless compound, like other porphyrinogens.
Hydroxymethylbilane, also known as preuroporphyrinogen, is an organic compound that occurs in living organisms during the synthesis of porphyrins, a group of critical substances that include haemoglobin, myoglobin, and chlorophyll. The name is often abbreviated as HMB.
Protoporphyrin IX is an organic compound, classified as a porphyrin, that plays an important role in living organisms as a precursor to other critical compounds like heme (hemoglobin) and chlorophyll. It is a deeply colored solid that is not soluble in water. The name is often abbreviated as PPIX.
Tetraphenylporphyrin, abbreviated TPP or H2TPP, is a synthetic heterocyclic compound that resembles naturally occurring porphyrins. Porphyrins are dyes and cofactors found in hemoglobin and cytochromes and are related to chlorophyll and vitamin B12. The study of naturally occurring porphyrins is complicated by their low symmetry and the presence of polar substituents. Tetraphenylporphyrin is hydrophobic, symmetrically substituted, and easily synthesized. The compound is a dark purple solid that dissolves in nonpolar organic solvents such as chloroform and benzene.
Porphyrazines, or tetraazaporphyrins, are tetrapyrrole macrocycles similar to porphyrins and phthalocyanines. Pioneered by Sir R. Patrick Linstead as an extension of his work on phthalocyanines, porphyrazines differ from porphyrins in that they contain -meso nitrogen atoms, rather than carbon atoms, and differ from phthalocyanines in that their β-pyrrole positions are open for substitution. These differences confer physical properties that are distinct from both porphyrins and phthalocyanines.
In biochemistry a porphyrinogen is a member of a class of naturally occurring compounds with a tetrapyrrole core, a macrocycle of four pyrrole rings connected by four methylene bridges. They can be viewed as derived from the parent compound hexahydroporphine by the substitution of various functional groups for hydrogen atoms in the outermost (20-carbon) ring.
2,5-Bis(hydroxymethyl)pyrrole is an organic chemical compound with formula C6H9O2N, or (HOCH2)2(C4H3N). Its molecule can be described as that of pyrrole C4H5N with hydroxymethyl groups HO−CH2− replacing the two hydrogen atoms adjacent to the nitrogen atom.
Hexahydroporphine is an organic chemical compound with formula C20H20N4. The molecule consists of four pyrrole rings connected by methylene bridges −CH2− into a larger (non-aromatic) macrocycle ring, which makes it one of the simplest tetrapyrroles, and the simplest "true" one. As indicated by the name, it may be viewed as derived from porphine by the addition of six hydrogen atoms: four on the methine bridges, and two on the nitrogen atoms.
Transition metal porphyrin complexes are a family of coordination complexes of the conjugate base of porphyrins. Iron porphyrin complexes occur widely in Nature, which has stimulated extensive studies on related synthetic complexes. The metal-porphyrin interaction is a strong one such that metalloporphyrins are thermally robust. They are catalysts and exhibit rich optical properties, although these complexes remain mainly of academic interest.
Phosphorus-centered porphyrins are conjugated polycyclic ring systems consisting of either four pyrroles with inward-facing nitrogens and a phosphorus atom at their core or porphyrins with one of the four pyrroles substituted for a phosphole. Unmodified porphyrins are composed of pyrroles and linked by unsaturated hydrocarbon bridges often acting as multidentate ligands centered around a transition metal like Cu II, Zn II, Co II, Fe III. Being highly conjugated molecules with many accessible energy levels, porphyrins are used in biological systems to perform light-energy conversion and modified synthetically to perform similar functions as a photoswitch or catalytic electron carriers. Phosphorus III and V ions are much smaller than the typical metal centers and bestow distinct photochemical properties unto the porphyrin. Similar compounds with other pnictogen cores or different polycyclic rings coordinated to phosphorus result in other changes to the porphyrin’s chemistry.
