A NdIII enantiomeric pair: Synthesis, crystal structures and near-infrared luminescent properties

Based on enantiopure bis-bidentate N-donor ligands (−)/(+)-2,5-bis(4,5-pinene- 2-pyridyl)pyrazine (LR/LS), a new pair of NdIII enantiomers with the formula Nd(dbm)3LR/S·2H2O (R-1 and S-1 being the isomers containing the LR and LS ligands, respectively, and dbm = dibenzoylmethanate) have been isolated and characterized by X-ray crystallography and spectroscopic methods. Notably, unlike our previously reported homodinuclear EuIII and DyIII complexes based on the identical ligands (LR and LS), the dinuclear NdIII congener have not been obtained by controlling the ligand-to-metal ratio as expected, the reason of which was elucidated in this work. The crystal structure analyses of R-1 and S-1 reveal that they are mononuclear NdIII complexes and crystallize in chiral space group P212121 of the orthorhombic system. Circular dichroic (CD) spectra confirmed their chiroptical activities and enantiomeric nature. The photoluminescence investigations showed that they display characteristic near-infrared (NIR) emissions of the NdIII ions with notable emitting lifetime value.