Lanthanide doped, up-converting nanoparticles have found considerable interest as luminescent probes in the field of bio-detection. Although the nanoparticles (NPs) have already been successfully applied for fluorescent bio-imaging and bio-assays, the efficiency of the up-conversion process seems to be the bottle-neck in rigorous applications. In this work, we have shown enhancement of the up-conversion in colloidal α-NaYF₄:Yb(3+), Tb(3+) doped nanocrystals owing to passivation of their surface. We have studied quantitatively the influence of the shell type (NaYF₄ and CaF₂), its thickness, as well as the shell deposition method (i.e. single thick shell vs. multi-layer shell) on the luminescent properties of the nanoparticles. The results showed that up to 40-fold up-conversion intensity enhancement may be obtained for the core-shell nanoparticles in comparison with the bare core nanoparticles, irrespective of the shell type and deposition method. Moreover, the suitability of the NaYF₄:Yb(3+), Tb(3+) core-shell NPs for multi-color emission and spectral multiplexing has been presented.

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ln the 'H NMR spectra of 2-diethylaminomethyl-3,4,6-trichlorophenoi (1) below 260 K, an additional splitting of the CH, signal was found, which can be ascribed to the hindered nitrogen inversion. In the molecule of the 0-methylated derivative (2) this process is fast (on the NMR time-scale) down to 150 K. The frequencies and the activation parameters of the nitrogen inversion in (1) were measured by DNMR, which indicated that the inversion requires a preliminary stage of breaking an intramolecular hydrogen bond. The activation enthalpy, AH:",, of the inversion stage was evaluated as 28.5 f 6.7 kJ mol-'.

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