An efficient one-pot procedure which converts 5,15-disubstituted porphyrins into their corresponding meso acyl-, alkoxycarbonyl-, and carbamoyl-substituted meso-formylporphyrins has been developed, where the procedure involves a sequential S(N)Ar reaction of porphyrins with PyMe(2)SiCH(2)Li, followed by acylation or related reactions and oxidation.