Design, Synthesis, Crystal Structure and Photoluminescence Properties of Four New Europium (III) Complexes with Fluorinated β-Diketone Ligand

The strong photoluminescence properties of europium complexes with organic ligands attracted the attention of many researchers and found a wide range of uses in medical, industrial and biological fields. In this article, four new Tetrakis europium complexes 3a, 3b, 3c and 3d have been prepared using 1-phenyl-4,4,4-trifluoro-1,3-butenedionato ligand and pyridinium, bipyridinium, piperazinium and piperidinium counter cations. These complexes have been characterized by negative FAB-mass. The crystal structures of 3a, 3b, 3c and 3d were determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. The complex 3a crystallized in monoclinic form, space group P2₁/n with four molecules in the unit cell. The complex 3b crystallized in monoclinic form, space group P2/n with two complex molecules in the unit cell. The complex 3c crystallized in monoclinic form, space group C2/c with sixteen molecules in the unit cell. The complex 3d crystallized in monoclinic form, space group P2₁/n with four complex molecules in the unit cell. The complex 3a has 1,2-alternative structure, 3b has 1,3-alternative structure, 3c has cone like structure and 3d has partial cone like structure. The photoluminescence properties of these complexes have been evaluated. Strong red emissions were observed in all four complexes due to ⁵D₀ → ⁷F₂ transition of Europium (III) ions under UV excitation. Four β-diketone ligands acted as strong antenna ligands and transferred the absorbed energy to europium (III) ion effectively; consequently strong red luminescence was observed.