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Dissolving zinc tetraphenylporphyrin in the tetraalkylphosphonium chloride ionic liquid P4448Cl results in progressive demetallation of the solute and quantitative production of the free base porphyrin. Aggregation of the free base occurs in which the monomer and J aggregates are in fully reversible thermal equilibrium in the ionic liquid. The thermodynamic, kinetic and spectroscopic behaviour of this system is described based on absorption, emission and excited state lifetime measurements. Both the thermodynamics of the ground state aggregation and the kinetics of the excited state relaxation processes are unusual due to the particular role played by the ionic liquid solvent.