Structure Variation and Luminescence Properties of Lanthanide Complexes Incorporating a Naphthalene-Derived Chromophore Featuring Salicylamide Pendant Arms

A new potentially bridging ligand containing two salicylamide pendant arms separated by a 2,3‐dimethoxynaphthalene spacer has been prepared and its coordination chemistry with LnIII ions has been investigated. An analysis of the presented crystal structures indicates that the diversity of these supramolecular structures is mainly dictated by the nature of the metal ions. These compounds represent good examples of tuning crystal structures arising from the flexibility of the ligands and the Ln contraction effect. Luminescence studies showed that the introduction of the methoxyl substituents on the naphthalene backbone lowers the triplet energy and considerably changes the luminescent behaviors of the EuIII and TbIII complexes, which is very different from the literature data on similar compounds. In the emission spectra of the Tb complex the ligand fluorescence remains relatively important because of the back‐energy transfer from the TbIII ion to the ligand, which to the best of our knowledge, may be the first example of salicylamide lanthanide complexes. (© Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2008) This work not only demonstrates that the supramolecular structure of lanthanide complexes with a naphthalene‐derived chromophore, featuring salicylamide pendant arms, can be tuned by the nature of metal ions, but also offers interesting perspectives for the development of efficient luminescent stains.