First syntheses and X-ray structures of a meso-alkyl-substituted corrole and its Ga(III) complex

The solvent-free condensation of heptafluorobutanal and pyrrole leads to the corresponding meso-alkyl-substituted corrole, which was metallated by gallium chloride to provide the first first-row non-transition-metal corrole. Both the ligand and the complex were characterized by X-ray crystallography.