Green Mechanochemistry: Synthesis of Highly Efficient Meso-Substituted Tetra Phenyl Porphyrin Sensitizers for Emerging Organic Photovoltaics Technology

Abstract

The present work deals with the preparation of porphyrin derivatives using the green synthesis method. Here the focus is on reducing the steps of the reaction scheme and using a mechanochemical C-C bonding method that minimizes the use of a solvent and makes the reaction environmentally friendly. This work is about the synthesis of meso-substituted tetraphenylporphyrin (TPP). Step I of the scheme deals with the mechanochemical synthesis of oxidizable porphyrin intermediates. In Step II, these oxidizable porphyrin intermediates are treated with effective oxidizing agents to convert them into the product. Product purity is checked primarily by UV-visible spectrophotometry and confirmed by IR, H1-NMR, C13, and MALDI-TOF instrumentation techniques. The synthesized porphyrins sensitizers can also generate current without any external load. Hence, they have photovoltaic importance in emerging organic photovoltaic technology-based Solar Cells.