Ligand Effects on the Emission Characteristics of Molecular Eu(II) Luminescence Thermometers

Abstract

Discrete molecular organometallic europium(II) complexes are promising functional materials due to their ability to behave as highly sensitive band-shift luminescence thermometers. Furthering our understanding of the design principles salient to the emission behavior of such systems is important for developing them in this emerging application. To this end, a series of pseudo-C 4v -symmetric organometallic europium(II) complexes bearing systematically varying ligand sets were synthesized and characterized to probe the influence of subtle structural modification on their optical properties. Opto-structural correlation analyses via variable-temperature single-crystal X-ray diffraction and photoluminescence spectroscopy reveal a remarkable variability in properties among structurally similar complexes and a convoluted dependence of the emission characteristics on the stereoelectronic properties of the ligands. A few factors of particular influence are nevertheless identified, including the distance between the europium(II) ion and the basal plane of the square-pyramidal coordination polyhedron, the presence of pendant electron density that might further interact with the excited-state 5d orbitals, and, qualitatively, the metal−ligand flexibility of the construct. These results help to elucidate principles that govern the luminescence properties of organometallic europium(II) complexes with an eye to enabling the rational design of high-performance luminescence thermometers of this genre.