Natural pigments containing four pyrrole rings joined by one-carbon units linking
position 2 of one pyrrole ring to position 5 of the next.
Porphyrins are macrocyclic tetrapyrroles. E.g. bilin (a linear tetrapyrrole).
Source:
PAC, 1995, 67, 1307
(Glossary of class names of organic compounds and reactivity intermediates based on
structure (IUPAC Recommendations 1995))
on page 1371
See also:
White Book, p. 279