Standard procedures were used successfully. Treatment 2 with MgH 2 in boiling dry pyridine afforded a yield of 85% after chromatography. Against our expectations, 7 the 1 H NMR spectrum revealed no Mg-coordinated pyridine. In contrast, an analogous reaction of 2 with Zn(II) acetate afforded zinc(II) porphyrin (Zn-2) as a 1:1 adduct with pyridine, whose o-, m-and p-protons were shifted upfield by 4.55, 1.67 and 1.31 ppm, respectively. Free square-planar Zn-2 was prepared either by heating the pyridine adduct at 200 °C under reduced pressure overnight or by heating 2 with Zn(II) acetate in benzonitrile.Cu(II), Co(II), Ni(II) and VO(II) po rphyrins were obtained in good yield by heating porphine with a metal(II) acetate or vanadyl(II) sulfate in benzonitrile close to the boiling point overnight. Pyridine and N,N-dimethylformamide can also be used, but the yields are usually lower.