We present a non-ionic water-soluble porphyrin that does not exhibit measurable aggregation even at high concentrations in water. The spin state of the corresponding nickel(II) complex changes from completely diamagnetic (low- spin) to paramagnetic (high-spin) upon addition of a strong axial ligand. This leads to a strongly reduced NMR relaxation time of the water protons even at low concentrations of the complex.
