Enhancing the Luminescence of Eu(III) Complexes with the Ruthenocene Organometallic Unit as Ancillary Ligand

Five novel Eu(III)-beta-diketonate complexes containing ruthenocene ancillary ligands (1,1 '-bis(diphenylphosphoryl)-ruthenocene-RcBPO) were synthesized and characterized. The coordination compounds presented the general formula [Eu(beta-dik)3(RcBPO)], where beta-dik stands for 2-thenoyltrifluoroacetonate (tta), 3-benzoyl-1,1,1-trifluoroacetone (btf), 2-dibenzoylmethanate (dbm), 2-acetyl-1,3-indandionate (aind), and 2-benzoyl-1,3-indandionate (bind), and RcBPO stands for 1,1 '-bis-(diphenylphosphoryl)ruthenocene. The [Eu(aind)(3)(RcBPO)] complex crystallizes in a monoclinic Cc non-centrosymmetric space group with the europium site environment, assuming a bicapped trigonal prism coordination polyhedron with the symmetry point group close to C-2v. Photoluminescent properties for the solid-state samples were described in terms of excitation, emission, lifetime decay curves, and intrinsic and overall quantum yields. The replacement of the two coordinated H2O molecules by the RcBPO ancillary ligand leads to great enhancements of the overall quantum yields (Q(Eu)(L) ), with the minimum increment by a factor of 5 for the case of [Eu(btf)(3)(RcBPO)] and the maximum enhancement of 270 times for the case of the [Eu(dbm)(3)(RcBPO)] complex. In addition, theoretical calculations were carried out to model the spectroscopic properties of the investigated compounds. To obtain theoretical Judd-Ofelt parameters (omega(lambda), lambda = 2, 4, and 6) and intramolecular energy transfer rates, the JOYSpectra web platform was employed using the structure obtained from density functional theory calculations. Hence, a rate equation model provided theoretical overall quantum yields, which are in great agreement with measured data.