Breakdown of the Energy Gap Law in Molecular Lanthanoid Luminescence: The Smallest Energy Gap Is Not Universally Relevant for Nonradiative Deactivation

Abstract

For several decades, the energy gap law has been the prevalent theoretical framework for the discussion of nonradiative deactivation of lanthanoid luminescence in molecular coordination chemistry. Here we show experimentally on samarium and dysprosium model complexes that the size of the energy gap ΔE between a lanthanoid emitting state and the next-lower electronic state cannot be considered a reliable and accurate predictor of the quantitative extent of nonradiative deactivation by aromatic C-H and C-D oscillator overtones. Because the energy gap is the central pillar for the entire conceptual framework of the energy gap law, this finding amounts to largely invalidating this theory for the quantitative description of molecular multiphonon relaxation.