Three pi-A-porphyrins containing long alkoxyl chains attached to the ortho position of phenyl ring and a phenyl carboxylate acid or acrylic acid at the mesa position of porphyrin were synthesized. All compounds were characterized by H-1 NMR and mass spectrometry. Optical and electrochemical properties were also obtained. The photovoltaic properties of these pi-A-porphyrins were examined for the first time and sensitizers N-1 and N-3 achieved comparable light to electricity conversion efficiencies: 3.94% for N-1 and 4.14% for N-3. However, preparation of N-1 required simple and cost-effective synthesis which made it a promising candidate for the future practical DSSC applications. The low efficiency conversion of N-2 was well explained by the amount of dye loading, IPCE and EIS. (c) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.