A multitechnique approach with theoretical insights has been employed to understand the complexation of trivalent lanthanides with two β-diketones, viz. 1phenyl-1,3-butanedione (L 1 ) and 4,4,4-trifluoro-1-phenyl-1,3-butanedione (L 2 ), in an ionic liquid (C 6 mim•NTf 2 ). UV−vis spectral analysis of complexation using Nd 3+ revealed the predominance of ML 2 + and ML 4 − species. The stability constants for the PB complexes were higher (β 2 ∼ 10.45 ± 0.05, β 4 ∼ 15.51 ± 0.05) than those for the TPB (β 2 ∼ 7.56 ± 0.05, β 4 ∼ 13.19 ± 0.06). The photoluminescence titration using Eu 3+ corroborated the same observations with slightly higher stability constants, probably due to the higher ionic potential of Eu 3+ . The more asymmetric (A L2 ML4 ∼ 5.2) Eu-L 2 complex was found to contain one water molecule in the primary coordination sphere of Eu 3+ with more covalency of the Eu 3+ -O bond (Ω 2 L1 = 8.5 × 10 −20 , Ω 4 L1 = 1.3 × 10 −20 ) compared to the less asymmetric Eu-L 1 complex (A L1 ML4 ∼ 3.5) with two water molecules having less Eu−O covalency (Judd-Offelt parameters:Liquid−liquid extraction studies involving Nd 3+ and Eu 3+ revealed the formation of the ML 4− complex following an 'anion exchange' mechanism. The shift of the enol peak from 1176 to 1138 cm −1 on the complexation of the β-diketones with Eu 3+ was confirmed from the FTIR spectra. 1 H NMR titration of the β-diketones with La(NTf 2 ) 3 evidenced the participation of α-H of the β-diketones and protons at C 2 , C 4 , and C 5 positions of the methylimidazolium ring. For the ML 2 complex, 4 donor O atoms are suggested to coordinate to the trivalent lanthanides with bond distances of 2.3297−2.411 Å for La− O, 2.206−2.236 Å for Eu−O, and 2.217−2.268 Å for Nd−O, respectively, while for the ML 4 complex, 8 donor O atoms were coordinated with bond lengths of 2.506−2.559 Å for La−O, 2.367−2.447 Å for Eu−O, and 2.408−2.476 Å for Nd−O. The Nd 3+ ion was higher by 9.7 kcal•mol −1 than that of the La 3+ ion for the 1:4 complex. The complexation energy with L1 was quite higher than that with L2 for both 1:2 and 1:4 complexes. Using cyclic voltammetry, the redox behavior of trivalent lanthanides Eu and Gd with β-diketonate in ionic liquid medium was probed and their redox energetic and kinetic parameters were determined.