(5-n-Butyl-10,20-diiso­butyl­porphyrin­ato)nickel(II)

The asymmetric unit of the title compound, [Ni(C₃₂H₃₆N₄)], contains two independent mol­ecules exhibiting an overall ruffled conformation of the porphyrin macrocycle and differing mainly in the positions of the methyl groups. The average Ni-N bond lengths are 1.912 (2) and 1.910 (2) Å in the two mol­ecules. The mol­ecules form a closely spaced lattice structure in which neighbouring porphyrins are oriented in a nearly perpendicular fashion to each other. The compound was prepared via nucleophilic substitution of (5,15-diiso­butyl­porphyrinato)nickel(II) with n-butyl­lithium.