In 

organic chemistry, chlorins are tetrapyrrole pigments that are

partially hydrogenated porphyrins.[1] The parent chlorin is an unstable compound which
undergoes air oxidation to porphine. [2] The name chlorin derives from chlorophyll. Chlorophylls
are magnesium-containing chlorins and occur as photosynthetic pigments in chloroplasts. The
reduced chlorin variants are present in bacteriochlorophylls and are named ‘bacteriochlorins’ and
‘isobacteriochlorins’.

Structures comparing porphin, chlorin, bacteriochlorin, and isobacteriochlorin.

Chlorins are excellent photosensitizing agents. Various synthetic chlorins analogues such as m-
tetrahydroxyphenylchlorin (mTHPC) and mono-L-aspartyl chlorin e6 are effectively employed
in experimental photodynamic therapy as photosensitizer.[3]

Contents

 1Chlorophylls
 2Synthetic chlorins
 3See also
 4Further reading
 5References

Chlorophylls[edit]
The most abundant chlorin is the photosynthetic pigment chlorophyll. Chlorophylls have a fifth,
ketone-containing ring unlike the chlorins. Diverse chlorophylls exists, such
as chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, chlorophyll d, chlorophyll e, chlorophyll f, and chlorophyll g.
Chlorophylls usually feature magnesium as a central metal atom, replacing the two NH centers in
the parent.[4]

Synthetic chlorins[edit]
Numerous synthetic chlorins have been examined.[5] Contracted chlorins can be synthesised by
reduction of B(III)subporphyrin or by oxidation of corresponding B(III)subbacteriochlorin.[6] The
B(III)subchlorins were directly synthesized as meso-ester B(III)subchlorin from meso-diester
tripyrromethane, these class of compound showed very good fluorescence quantum yield and
singlet oxygen producing efficiency[7][8]
See also[edit]
 Corrin
 Photodynamic therapy

Further reading[edit]
 Juse´lius, Jonas; Sundholm, Dage (2000). "The aromatic pathways of porphins, chlorins and
bacteriochlorins". Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics. 2 (10): 2145–
2151. Bibcode:2000PCCP....2.2145J. doi:10.1039/b000260g.

References[edit]
1. ^ Gerard P. Moss (1988). "Nomenclature of Tetrapyrroles. Recommendations 1986". European
Journal of Biochemistry. 178 (2): 277–328. doi:10.1111/j.1432-
1033.1988.tb14453.x. PMID 3208761.
2. ^ Battersby, Alan R. (2000). "Tetrapyrroles: The pigments of life". Natural Product Reports. 17 (6):
507–526. doi:10.1039/b002635m. PMID 11152419.
3. ^ Spikes, John D. (July 1990). "New trends in photobiology". Journal of Photochemistry and
Photobiology B: Biology. 6 (3): 259–274. doi:10.1016/1011-1344(90)85096-F. PMID 2120404.
4. ^ K. Eszter, Borbas. Handbook of Porphyrin Science: 181: Chlorins.
worldscientific. doi:10.1142/9789813149564_0001. ISBN 9814322326.
5. ^ Taniguchi, Masahiko; Lindsey, Jonathan S. (2017). "Synthetic Chlorins, Possible Surrogates for
Chlorophylls, Prepared by Derivatization of Porphyrins". Chemical Reviews. 117 (2): 344–
535. doi:10.1021/acs.chemrev.5b00696. OSTI 1534468. PMID 27498781.
6. ^ Osuka, Atsuhiro; Kim, Dongho (2008). "Synthesis and Characterization of meso-Aryl-Substituted
Subchlorins". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 130 (2): 438–
439. doi:10.1021/ja078042b. PMID 18095693.
7. ^ Chandra, Brijesh; Soman, Rahul; Sathish Kumar, B.; Jose, K. V. Jovan; Panda, Pradeepta K. (3
Dec 2020). "Meso-Free Boron(III)subchlorin and Its μ-Oxo Dimer with Interacting
Chromophores". Organic Letters. 22 (24): 9735–
9739. doi:10.1021/acs.orglett.0c03813. PMID 33270460. S2CID 227282229.
8. ^ Soman, Rahul; Chandra, Brijesh; Bhat, Ishfaq A.; Kumar, B. Sathish; Hossain, Sk Saddam; Nandy,
Sridatri; Jose, K. V. Jovan; Panda, Pradeepta K. (15 Jul 2021). "A2B- and A3-Type
Boron(III)Subchlorins Derived from meso-Diethoxycarbonyltripyrrane: Synthesis and Photophysical
Exploration". The Journal of Organic Chemistry. 86 (15): 10280–
10287. doi:10.1021/acs.joc.1c01001. PMID 34264670. S2CID 235959639.

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