Lanthanide-based luminescent hybrid materials.

The site isolation of lanthanide cations (Er3+, Tb3+, and Eu3+) has been achieved through the self-assembly of three convergent polyether dendrons, each with a carboxylate anion focal point, around the central trivalent cation. Evidence for the self-assembly of the dendritic complexes can be obtained by a variety of spectroscopic and other analytical means both in solution and in the solid state. The luminescence properties of these new dendrimers measured both in solution and in the bulk show a dependence of luminescence activity on the size of the dendritic shell. The observed enhancement in luminescence properties can be attributed both to a large antenna effect, involving the nonconjugated phenyl benzyl ether dendrimer framework, and to a shell effect that results from the effective site isolation of each lanthanide cation within a dendritic sphere, preventing their mutual interaction and decreasing their rate of self-quenching. The site isolation afforded by self-assembly and the antenna effect provi...

Self-Assembled Lanthanide-Cored Dendrimer Complexes: Enhancement of the Luminescence Properties of Lanthanide Ions through Site-Isolation and Antenna Effects

Luminescent Eu-containing copolymers were synthesized through the copolymerization of Eu−complex monomers containing β-diketones with methyl methacrylate and characterized by FT-IR, UV−vis, XPS, GPC, TGA, and DSC. All these Eu copolymers are fully soluble in common organic solvents and can be cast into transparent, uniform, thin films with good mechanical flexibility and thermal stability. The Eu−copolymer luminophores exhibited intense red light at 615 nm under UV excitation at room temperature, which is attributed to the 5D0→7F2 transition of Eu(III) ions. The luminescence intensities, lifetimes and monochromaticities, η(5D0→7F2/5D0→7F1), of the Eu−copolymers are much higher than that of the corresponding Eu−complex monomers as well as Eu−complex/PMMA blends. Energy transfer processes and microenvironment effects were found to contribute to the improvement of the luminescence properties of the Eu−copolymers. A study of the dependence of emission intensities of the Eu−copolymers on the Eu content showed ...

Synthesis and Luminescence Properties of Novel Eu-Containing Copolymers Consisting of Eu(III)−Acrylate−β-Diketonate Complex Monomers and Methyl Methacrylate

This critical review mainly focuses on recent research progress in photofunctional lanthanide hybrid materials The review covers hybrids with complexes of organically modified silanes as precursors for sol–gel processing, hybrids with lanthanide complex units grafted onto the interior of mesoporous hosts, hybrids with lanthanide complex units on polymer chains, and other non-silica or composite-based lanthanide hybrids The photophysical properties of lanthanide hybrids are also discussed Finally, future challenges and opportunities in this field are discussed

E. Banks

Papers

Rare earth metal containing polymers. 3. Characterization of ion-containing polymer structures using rare earth metal fluorescence probes