Altering the Coordination of Iron Porphyrins by Ionic Liquid Nanodomains in Mixed Solvent Systems.

The solvent environment around iron porphyrin complexes was examined using mixed molecular/RTIL (room temperature ionic liquid) solutions. The formation of nanodomains in these solutions provides different solvation environments for substrates that could have significant impact on their chemical reactivity. Iron porphyrins (Fe(P)), whose properties are sensitive to solvent and ligation changes, were used to probe the molecular/RTIL environment. The addition of RTILs to molecular solvents shifted the redox potentials to more positive values. When there was no ligation change upon reduction, the shift in the E° values were correlated to the Gutmann acceptor number, as was observed for other porphyrins with similar charge changes. As %RTIL approached 100 %, there was insufficient THF to maintain coordination and the E° values were much more dependent upon the %RTIL. In the case of Fe