The reaction of Ln(NO 3 ) 2 ·6H 2 O salts (Ln = Nd, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Er and Yb) with 2-fluorobenzoic acid (H-2-FBz) and 1,10-phenanthroline (phen) in ethanol/water mixture allows the isolation of dinuclear compounds of the formula [Ln 2 (2-FBz) 4 -(NO 3 ) 2 (phen) 2 ] {Ln = Nd (1), Eu (2), Gd (3), Tb (4), Dy (5), Er (6)} and [Yb 2 (2-FBz) 6 (phen) 2 ] (7). The solid-state photoluminescence [a] 1928 study of the complexes shows the 4f-4f lanthanide transitions in the visible range, in the cases of 2, 4 and 5, and in the NIR range for 1, 6 and 7. Magnetic studies reveal field-induced single-molecule-magnet (SMM) behaviour for compounds 1, 5, 6 and 7.