The refinement of simple synthetic routes for the preparation of meso-substituted corroles made this macrocycle easily available to researchers, before hampered by the multi-step preparation necessary to obtain this contracted porphyrin.
Although this synthetic availability contributed to the corrole popularity, it is for sure the peculiarity of the chemistry of such a macrocycle that justified the impressive increase in researches related to corroles. This peculiarity is characterized by the non-innocent character as ligand, which from one side makes its behavior particularly intriguing and challenging for the electronic structure characterization, and from the other side makes its metal derivatives interesting for catalytic applications. To further enrich this scenario, it is important to study different synthetic routes devoted to the modification of the corrole ring, by the introduction of peripheral substituents. In this way it is possible to modulate the characteristics of the corrole ligand and consequently its metal derivatives.
In the present work we summarize our recent achievements in the preparation of novel corrole derivatives for chemical sensors development.