Lanthanides have fascinated scientists for more than two centuries now, and since efficient separation techniques were established roughly 50 years ago, they have increasingly found their way into industrial exploitation and our everyday lives. Numerous applications are based on their unique luminescent properties, which are highlighted in this volume. It presents established knowledge about the photophysical basics, relevant lanthanide probes or materials, and describes instrumentation-related aspects including chemical and physical sensors. The uses of lanthanides in bioanalysis and medicine are outlined, such as assays for in vitro diagnostics and research. All chapters were compiled by renowned scientists with a broad audience in mind, providing both beginners in the field and advanced researchers with comprehensive information on on the given subject.

This thesis deals with strongly luminescent lanthanide complexes having novel coordination structures. Luminescent lanthanide complexes are promising candidates as active materials for EL devices, lasers, and bio-sensing applications. The organic ligands in lanthanide complexes control geometrical and vibrational frequency structures that are closely related to the luminescent properties. In most of the previous work, however, lanthanide complexes have high-vibrational frequency C–H units close to the metal center for radiationless transition. In this thesis, the luminescent properties of lanthanide complexes with low-vibrational frequency C–F and P=O units are elucidated in terms of geometrical, vibrational, and chemical structures. The author also describes lanthanide coordination polymers with both high thermal stability (decomposition point > 300°C) and strong-luminescent properties (emission quantum yield > 80%). The author believes that novel studies on the characteristic structures and photophysical properties of lanthanide complexes may open up a frontier field in photophysical, coordination and material chemistry.

Unique properties of luminescent lanthanides reporters explain their emergence for bioanalytical and optical imaging applications. Lanthanide ions possess long emission lifetimes, a good resistance to photodecomposition and sharp emission bands that do not overlap. In addition, several lanthanides emit in the near infrared (NIR) region of the electromagnetic spectrum making them very interesting for in vivo imaging. Free lanthanide cations have low extinction coefficients due to the forbidden nature of the f → f transition. Therefore, lanthanides must be sensitized using a photonic converter such as an organic chromophore through the “antenna effect". We report here new near-infrared emitting compounds whose structure allows to incorporate a high density of lanthanide cations and sensitizers per unit volume: i) nano-MOF Yb-PVDC-3 based on Yb3+ sensitized by phenylenevinylene dicarboxylates. ii) polymetallic dendrimer complexes formed with derivatives of new generation-3 polyamidoamine dendrimers. In these complexes, 8 lanthanide ions (Eu3+, Yb3+, Nd3+) can be sensitized by the 32 antenna derived from 1,8-naphthalimide. These two families of compounds were fully characterised for their physical, photophysical properties as well as for their biological respective compatibilities. They are stable in various media and their low cytotoxicity and emission of a sufficient number of photons are suitable for near-infrared live cell imaging. One of the main goal outcomes of this work is the establishment of the proof of principle that nano- MOFs and lanthanide derived dendrimers can be used for the sensitization of NIR emitting lanthanides to create a new generation of NIR optical imaging agents suitable for both in cellulo and in vivoapplications.The present work also validates the efficiency of the strategy to use both types of nanoscale systems described here to increase the number of emitted photons per unit volume for an improved detection sensitivity and to compensate for low quantum yields.

This comprehensive book presents the theoretical principles, current applications and latest research developments in the field of luminescent lanthanide complexes; a rapidly developing area of research which is attracting increasing interest amongst the scientific community. Luminescence of Lanthanide Ions in Coordination Compounds and Nanomaterials begins with an introduction to the basic theoretical and practical aspects of lanthanide ion luminescence, and the spectroscopic techniques used to evaluate the efficiency of luminescence. Subsequent chapters introduce a variety of different applications including: • Circularly polarized luminescence • Luminescence bioimaging with lanthanide complexes • Two-photon absorption of lanthanide complexes • Chemosensors • Upconversion luminescence • Excitation spectroscopy • Heterometallic complexes containing lanthanides Each chapter presents a detailed introduction to the application, followed by a description of experimental techniques specific to the area and an extensive review of recent literature. This book is a valuable introduction to the literature for scientists new to the field, as well as providing the more experienced researcher with a comprehensive resource covering the most relevant information in the field; a ‘one stop shop’ for all key references.