Tetra- and Octapyrroles Synthesized from Confusion and Fusion Approaches.

By oxidation of an alternately N-confused bilane in CHCl, a C-N fused tetrapyrrin was synthesized that bears a 5.5.5-tricyclic ring generated from an intramolecular C-N linkage. When CHCN was used as the reaction medium, a multiply C-N-fused octapyrrolic dimer was also obtained that contained two 5.5.5.7.5-pentacyclic moieties and a bipyrrole unit generated from the intramolecular C-N linkage and intermolecular C-C linkage, respectively. This could be coordinated with Ni(acac) to afford a mixed-ligand complex.