Small Molecule Luminescent Lanthanide Ion Complexes - Photophysical Characterization and Recent Developments

Abstract

The luminescence of lanthanide ions makes them interesting for a wide variety of applications and several researchers try to optimize this property. In this paper we give a brief overview of the luminescence process and of the techniques utilized to characterize the photophysical properties. Several recent examples of luminescent complexes with small molecule sensitizers will also be discussed.

Lanthanide Complexes and Quantum Dots: A Bright Wedding for Resonance Energy Transfer

“…Upon excitation, the ligand reaches a first singlet excited state ( 1 ππ*, Figure 5), and it is generally assumed that the energy is first transferred to a ligand-centered triplet state ( 3 ππ*) by intersystem crossing and from there to the lanthanide-centered excited state (Ln*). [70] Figure 5. Antenna effect in the [Eu(TBP)] 3+ lanthanide cryptate [71,72] and the corresponding simplified energy diagram.…”

Sensitization of LnIII (Ln = Eu, Tb, Tm) Ion Luminescence by Functionalized Polycarbonate‐Based Materials and White Light Generation

“…[5][6][7] The long luminescence lifetimes (μs to ms) of the Ln III ions are a result of the parity forbidden nature of the f-f transitions. [8] The forbidden nature of these transitions results in inefficient direct excitation of the metal ion-centered emission. [6] Thus organic ligands are often used as optical antennae or sensitizers to transfer energy to the emissive excited states of the Ln III ion.…”

“…[6] Thus organic ligands are often used as optical antennae or sensitizers to transfer energy to the emissive excited states of the Ln III ion. [6,8] In polymer was shifted from -13°C to -9 and -10°C after coordination of Eu III [5] Due to their unique optical properties, Ln III ions can be incorporated into polymers that possess mechanical properties desirable for the design of hybrid luminescent materials for imaging applications. [6,7,9] One such polymer is polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), as reported by Bonzanini [10,11] and Wang [12] and co-workers.…”

Multi-Color Luminescence and Sensing of Rare Earth Hybrids by Ionic Exchange Modification

“…Luminescent rare earth ions have an unusual position in the fields of optical materials and devices for their remarking properties such as high color purity caused by their line-like emission, large Stokes shifts and wide lifetime range from microsecond to millisecond lifetimes [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. But the 4f-4f transition of rare earth ion itself is spin-forbidden and can directly affect the efficiency of the luminescence output.…”