Oxygen-binding to simple cobaltporphyrins combined with polyvinylmidazole

Reversible oxygen-binding was observed at low temperature for the poly(vinylimidazole-co-octyl methacrylate) complexes of the simple or planar cobaltporphyrins (CoP) such as cobalt-tetraphenylporphyrin and cobalt-octaethylporphyrin. The oxygen-binding affinity and rate constants were compared with those for the cobalt-picketfence porphyrin, a typical oxygen-carrier. The low oxygen-binding affinity for the CoP complexes was attributed to the enormously large oxygen-releasing rate constant.