Eu3+ as a luminescent probe for local site symmetry in Eu(III) coordination compounds

Abstract

Eu(III) coordination compounds attract a lot of interest because of their excellent properties, both from the application point of view as well as from the pure theoretical aspects [1,3]. Usually under the UV or blue-light excitation the Eu3+ complex exhibits a bright-red luminescence with narrow atomic-like emission bands. Because of relatively small number of 7FJ components in the PL emission spectrum the Eu(III) ion is convenient when analysing the PL spectra, drawing information and making conclusions vs the symmetry properties of the specific complex. The topic of this paper encompasses the use of Eu(III) ion as a site symmetry probe in lanthanide coordination compounds.

We discuss a number of important aspects on the use of tripositive ion Eu3+ for evaluation of local symmetry in europium(III) coordination compounds. When examining these aspects, we bring both

the literature data as well as our own experimental results [2]. As one of example we discuss the PL spectra on the binuclear complex [Eu(µ2-OC2H5)(NO)3(phen)]2phen.