Synthesis, crystal structure and luminescence properties of homodinuclear lanthanide complexes with a new tetrapodal thenylsalicylamide ligand

Five new homodinuclear lanthanide(III) complexes with a new tetrapodal thenylsalicylamide ligand (L), of formulae [Nd2L2(NO3)6(CH3OH)2]·2H2O·2CH3OH (1), and [Ln2L2(NO3)6 (CH3OH)2]·4CH3OH, Ln = Sm (2), Eu (3), Gd (4), Tb (5)) have been synthesized and characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, elemental analysis, IR spectroscopy and molar conductance analysis. The two arms of L ligand arranged in a complementary head to head fashion to bind two lanthanide to form a cage-like coordination dimer with the other two uncoordinated arms constructing interesting three dimensional supramolecular structures. The europium and terbium containing compounds both exhibit luminescence of the referring trivalent lanthanide ions, giving a red luminescence for Eu(III) and a green luminescence for Tb(III) triggered by an efficient antenna effect of the thenylsalicylamide group.