Square-grid coordination networks of (5,10,15,20-tetra-4-pyridylporphyrinato)zinc(II) in its clathrate with two guest molecules of 1,2-dichlorobenzene: supramolecular isomerism of the porphyrin self-assembly.

The title compound, (5,10,15,20-tetra-4-pyridylporphyrinato)zinc(II) 1,2-dichlorobenzene disolvate, [Zn(C(40)H(24)N(8))].2C(6)H(4)Cl(2), contains a clathrate-type structure. It is composed of two-dimensional square-grid coordination networks of the self-assembled porphyrin moiety, which are stacked one on top of the other in a parallel manner. The interporphyrin cavities of the overlapping networks combine into channel voids accommodated by the dichlorobenzene solvent. Molecules of the porphyrin complex are located on crystallographic inversion centres. The observed two-dimensional assembly mode of the porphyrin units represents a supramolecular isomer of the unique three-dimensional coordination frameworks of the same porphyrin building block observed earlier. The significance of this study lies in the discovery of an additional supramolecular isomer of the rarely observed structures of metalloporphyrins self-assembled directly into extended coordination polymers without the use of external ligand or metal ion auxiliaries.