Corrin

Upon deprotonation, the corrinoid ring is capable of binding cobalt. In vitamin B₁₂, the resulting complex also features a benzimidazole-derived ligand, and the sixth site on the octahedron serves as the catalytic center.

The corrin ring resembles the porphyrin ring, which occurs in hemoglobin. Both feature four pyrrole-like subunits organized into a ring with a largely conjugated structure of alternating double and single bonds. In contrast to porphyrins, corrins lack one of the carbon groups that link the pyrrole-like units into a fully conjugated structure. With a conjugated system that extends only 3/4 of the way around the ring, and does not include any of the outer edge carbons, corrins have a number of non-conjugated sp³ carbons, making them more flexible than porphyrins and not as flat. A third closely related biological structure, the chlorin ring system found in chlorophyll, is intermediate between porphyrin and corrin, having 20 carbons like the porphyrins and a conjugated structure extending all the way around the central atom, but with only 6 of the 8 edge carbons participating.

Corroles (octadehydrocorrins) are fully aromatic derivatives of corrins.