Serendipitous synthesis of trimetallic porphyrazine triads

We report the synthesis and characterization of structurally unusual porphyrazine triads with three macrocycles bound to a central pyrazine core. These trimacrocyclic complexes were accidentally discovered during studies on the peripheral metallation of porphyrazinediamines. The crystal structure of the tri-zinc porphyrazine triad is described and the spectroscopic properties including electronic absorption spectra of this complex and the corresponding magnesium, free-base, and copper derivatives are reported.