Synthesis and characterization a novel europium(III)-β-diketonate complex with carbazole and triphenylamine moieties

•A new ligand with triphenylamine and carbazole was prepared and characterized.•It is an asymmetric chelating ligand.•Its corresponding Eu complex also be investigated.•The ligand HL has an excellent antenna effect to sensitize the lanthanide ion.•The complex has good quantum efficiency and high thermal stability.

A novel β-diketonate ligand with triphenylamine and carbazole moieties named: 1-(4-diphenylamino-phenyl)-3-(9-ethyl-9H-carbazol-3-yl)-propane-1,3-dione (HL), was synthesized by the Claisen condensation reaction and its corresponding europium complex Eu(L)3phen was prepared. The structures of the ligand and complex were characterized by IR spectra, 1H NMR, elemental analysis (EA), UV–Vis spectra and ESI-MS. The photoluminescence (PL) spectra shows that the ligand has an excellent antenna effect to sensitize the Eu3+ and the complex has good quantum efficiency which indicates that the complex is a good candidate as emitter in fabricating organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). Thermogravimetric (TG) analysis shows that the complex possesses high thermal stability and good film-forming ability to generate the OLEDs.

Graphical abstractA novel ligand and its corresponding Eu3+ complex have been designed and synthesized, and their photophysical properties have also been investigated.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide