Twelve heteroaromatic complexing agents 9a-1 were synthesized with the purpose to develop suitable labels for time-resolved luminescence-based bioaffinity assays. The relative luminescence yields, excitation maxima, and emission decay constants of their europium(II1) and terbium(lI1) chelates were determined. According to these results, 2,2',2",2"'-[(2,2'-bipyridine-6,6'-diyl)bis(methylenenitrilo)]tetrakis(acetic acid) (9e) and 2,2,2,2-[(2,2': 6',2"-terpyridine-6,6"-diyl)bis(methylenenitrilo)]tetrakis(a~tic acid) (91) are the most promising agents.Introduction. -Luminescent and fluorescent probes were the subject of intensive research during the last years. The most used fluorescent probes have such a short decay time that it is difficult to separate their fluorescence from the background and the scatterings of the sample [ 11. The long-lived luminescence characteristic of certain rareearth chelates was known for a long time [2]. These rare-earth chelates possess narrow emission bands and a large difference between the excitation and emission wavelengths, which can be exploited to decrease the interference caused by the background and the scatterings [ 11.General requirements for luminescent lanthanide chelates to be used as labels in immunoassays are the high quantum yield of the emission, high kinetic stability, good H,O solubility, and the existence of a functional group for covalent coupling to an antigen or antibody. Moreover, the coupling process should neither decrease the immunoreactivity of the labeled substances nor increase its unspecific binding to plastics etc. The chelates generally comprise a central metal ion and a chromophore, playing numerous roles in the complex. The chromophore absorbs light and transfers the excitation energy to the lanthanide ion. Furthermore, it shields the lanthanide ion from the interaction with H,O molecules, which would otherwise cause nonradiative deactivation of the excited state.