Porphyrin-based assemblies directed by non-covalent interactions: Highlights of recent investigations

This paper addresses a series of recent investigations into crystalline porphyrin-based assemblies directed by non-covalent and non-coordinative interactions. It describes attractive design strategies for the formulation of multi-dimensional aggregates of suitably activated poly-topic porphyrins, without the use of metal ion connectors. The major part of the discussion relates to open porphyrinic networks supported by cooperative halogen bonding and hydrogen bonding interaction synthons, highlighting the crystal-engineering toolbox available to this end.