Effect of Coordination Environment on the Photophysical Properties of Luminescent Europium(III) Complexes

A series of Eu(III) complexes with various neutral ligands (2,2’:6’,2"-terpyridine (T), diglyme (D), 1N-(2-dimethylamino) ethyl)-1N, 2N, 2N-trimethylethane-1,2-diamine (PT), di-(2-picolyl)-amine derivative (HT), and multidentate terpyridine derivative (DT)) were synthesized to investigate the effect of coordination environment on the sensitized luminescence of Eu(III) complexes. The nine coordination sites of the $Eu^{3+}$ ion are occupied by three bidentate carboxylate moieties and one neutral ligand. The highest emission intensity is obtained for $Eu^{3+}$- $[NA]_3$ (PT), due to the difference in energy transfer efficiency and symmetry of the first coordination sphere of $Eu^{3+}$ ion. But, the lowest emission intensity is obtained for $Eu^{3+}$-$[NA]_3$(T). Terpyridine may not play an important role antenna for photosensitizing $Eu^{3+}$ ion. It could be attributed to the weak spectral overlap integral J value between its phosphorescence band and $Eu^{3+}$ion absorption band. Therefore, different coordination environment of $Ln^{3+}$ ion play an important role in providing sensitization of lanthanide ion emission.