Syntheses, structures and photophysical properties of a series of Zn-Ln coordination polymers (Ln = Nd, Pr, Sm, Eu, Tb, Dy)

Six novel heterometallic Zn-Ln coordination polymers {ZnLnCl(pydc)₂(H₂O)₆]·3H₂O}_n (Ln = Nd 1, Pr 2, Sm 3, Eu 4, Tb 5, Dy 6; pydc = pyridine-2,5-dicarboxylate) were synthesized by the hydrothermal method, and their structures were measured by the single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The IR and UV-Vis-NIR absorption spectra, and the luminescence spectra in the visible and near-infrared (NIR) regions of the six complexes were determined at room temperature. They possess the same crystal structure, and the Zn(II) and Ln(III) ions in each complex are bridged into 1D infinite chain by pyridine-2,5-dicarboxylates. Meanwhile, there are numerous hydrogen bonds which result in the 3D hydrogen bonding network in the crystal. In the visible and NIR regions, the emission spectra of the complexes show the characteristic bands of the corresponding Ln(III) ions, which are mainly attributed to the sensitization from the d-L-moiety to f-L-moiety after forming the Zn-Ln complexes. In this paper, we first report the Zn-Sm complex which can exhibit the emission bands of Sm(III) in the NIR region, and discuss the sensitization from the d-L-moiety to f-L-moiety on the basis of the different characteristics of levels for different Ln(III) ions.