N-confused porphine

A skeleton of N-confused porphyrin (NC-porphine) has been synthesized for the first time, through a [3+1] coupling reaction. A completely planar inner 3H tautomeric form was found in the crystals, and the molecular packing shows a sandwich herringbone structure similar to that of normal porphine, whilst some of the spectroscopic properties demonstrate systematic substituent effects by the meso-phenyl groups on the N-confused porphyrin.