Chirality is a fundamental characteristic of nature. Expanded porphyrinoids and their analogues offer an attractive platform for delving into the intricacies of chirality. Expanded porphyrinoids comprise pyrrolic macrocycles and related heterocyclic systems. As a class, expanded porphyrinoids are widely recognized for their flexible structural features, nontrivial coordination capabilities, and intriguing optical and electronic properties. With limited exceptions, their inherent conformational flexibility coupled with a low racemization barrier allows for the facile interchange between enantiomers. As a result, achieving the effective chiral resolution of individual enantiomers and the subsequent exploration of their chiroptical properties represents a significant challenge. This review summarizes strategies used to realize the chiral resolution of expanded porphyrinoids and the understanding of intrinsic chiroptical properties that has emerged from these separation efforts. It is our hope that this review will serve not only to codify our current understanding of chiral expanded porphyrinoids, but also inspire advances in the generalized area of chiral functional materials.
Keywords: chiral resolution; chirality; chiroptical properties; expanded porphyrinoids; macrocycles.
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