The interaction of europium nitrate with triazine-based
luminophores,
namely 3-(pyridin-2-yl)triimidazo[1,2-a:1′,2′-c:1″,2′′-e][1,3,5]triazine
(L
1), 3-(pyridin-4-yl)triimidazo[1,2-a:1′,2′-c:1″,2′′-e][1,3,5]triazine (L
2), and
3,7,11-tri(pyridin-4-yl)triimidazo[1,2-a:1′,2′-c:1″,2″-e][1,3,5]triazine
(L
3), resulted in three Eu(III) compounds
with the compositions (L
1H)[Eu(NO3)4(H2O)2] (1), (L
2HL
2)2[Eu(NO3)5(H2O)] (CH3CN)2 (2), and [Eu(NO3)3(H2O)2(L
3)] (3) whose structures were disclosed by single crystal
X-ray diffraction analysis. In the organic–inorganic hybrid
salts 1 and 2, the direct Eu(III)–triazinic
ligand coordination is lacking, while in the neutral complex 3 the direct Eu(III)–L
3 coordination occurs through one of the luminophore’s N-pyridine
binding sites. The solid-state photoluminescence behavior of 2 and 3 was studied. At room temperature, 2 revealed predominantly the ligand-based photoluminescence
in the cyan-blue region of the spectrum when excited at 337 nm; the
orange-red Eu(III)-based emission dominated the spectrum when excited
at 405 nm. On the other hand, irrespective of the excitation wavelength,
compound 3 displayed the characteristic emission of Eu(III),
suggesting that the coordinated L
3 ligand
effectively played an antenna effect toward the metal. The Eu(III)-based
contribution in photoluminescence in 2 and 3 displayed an opposite thermochromic behavior when monitored in the
12–300 K range. Specifically, the emission intensity decreases
for 2 and increases for 3 with an increase
in the temperature. The unusual thermochromic effect for 3 was hypothesized from a density of states (DOS) viewpoint.