Photoactive rare earth complexes for fluorescence tuning and sensing cations (Fe3+) and anions (Cr2O72−)

Abstract

A series of photoactive rare earth complexes have been synthesized hydrothermally with two kinds of organic ligands, adenine and biphenyl-4,4′-dicarboxylic acid, which are formulated as RE/Ad/BPDC (RE = Y, Eu, Tb, Sm, Dy, Ad = adeninate, BPDC = biphenyl-4,4-dicarboxylate). The multi-color can be tuned and the fluorescent sensing properties of these materials are studied in detail. Especially the Y_0.99Eu_0.01/Ad/BPDC system has a selective fluorescence quenching effect for Fe³⁺ and Cr₂O₇²⁻.