Electrochemical route to Co(II) polyporphine

Novel synthetic route towards electroactive films of Co(II) polyporphine has been elaborated. It is based on the electrochemical transformation of the metal-free polyporphine film with replacement of protons inside the macrocycles by Co(II) cations. Compared to the conventional procedure of such ion exchange based on extended thermal treatment of macrocycles in the presence of the saturated solution of the metal salt, the developed approach allows one to use dilute solutions of the metal cation at ambient conditions. The resulting Co(II) polyporphine possesses a very high concentration of CoN4 functional groups which are known as prospective catalysts of various processes.