Sensitization of visible and NIR emitting lanthanide(III) ions in a series of dinuclear complexes of formula [Ln2(μ-2-FBz)2(2-FBz)4(terpy)2]·2(2-HFBz)·2(H2O)

Abstract

The reaction between 2-fluorobenzoic acid (H-2-FBz), 2,2′:6′,2″-terpyridine (terpy) and different Ln(NO3)3·6H2O salts (Ln = La, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Er and Yb) in an ethanol/water solution mixture leads to the formation of dinuclear complexes of formula [Ln2(μ-2-FBz)2(2-FBz)4(terpy)2]·2(H-2-FBz)·2(H2O) (Ln = La (1), Nd (2), Sm (3), Eu (4), Gd (5), Tb (6), Dy (7), Er (8), and Yb (9)). The solid-state photoluminescence study of the complexes shows the sensitisation of the 4f–4f transitions in the visible range in the case of 4, 6 and 7, in the NIR range for 2, 8 and 9, and both in the visible and NIR ranges for complex 3. Magnetic studies reveal single molecule magnet (SMM) behaviour for compound 7 and field-induced SMM behaviour for compounds 2, 8 and 9.