Spectroscopic study on the photophysical properties of novel lanthanide complexes with long chain mono-L phthalate (LÂ =Â hexadecyl, octadecyl and eicosyl)

Ortho-phthalic anhydride was modified with long chain alcohol (1-hexadecanol, 1-octadecanol and 1-eicosanol) to their corresponding mono-L phthalate (L = hexadecyl, octadecyl and eicosyl), i.e. monohexadecyl phthalate (16-Phth), monooctadecyl phthalate (18-Phth), and monoeicosyl phthalate (20-Phth), respectively. Nine novel lanthanide (Eu3+, Tb3+ and Dy3+) complexes with these three mono-L phthalate ligands were synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis and IR spectra. The photophysical properties of these complexes were studied in detail with various spectroscopes such as ultraviolet-visible absorption spectra, low temperature phosphorescence spectra and fluorescent spectra. The ultraviolet-visible absorption spectra show some band shifts with the different chain-length of phthalate monoester and homologous lanthanide complexes. From the low temperature phosphorescent emission, the triplet state energies for these three ligands were determined to be around 22,650 cm−1 (16-Phth), 23,095 cm−1 (18-Phth) and 22,400 cm−1 (20-Phth), respectively, suggesting they are suitable for the sensitization of the luminescence of Eu3+, Tb3+ and Dy3+. The fluorescence excitation and emission spectra for these lanthanides complexes of the three ligands take agreement with the above predict from energy match.