Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 19, 2026

Hyperspectral Imaging as a Tool to Study Optical Anisotropy in Lanthanide-Based Molecular Single Crystals
Published on: April 14, 2020
Lanthanide complexes as chiral probes exploiting circularly polarized luminescence
Rachel Carr1, Nicholas H Evans, David Parker
1Department of Chemistry, Durham University, UK.
New optical probes detect molecular chirality using circularly polarized luminescence (CPL). Lanthanide complexes offer ideal CPL spectroscopy properties, guiding the design of sensitive chiral detection tools.
Area of Science:
- Supramolecular Chemistry
- Photophysics
- Chiroptical Spectroscopy
Background:
- Circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) probes are crucial for detecting molecular chirality.
- Lanthanide complexes exhibit strong luminescence, making them suitable for CPL-based sensing.
- Understanding stereochemical factors is key to designing effective chiral probes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To define design criteria for lanthanide-based optical probes for local chirality detection.
- To explore how perturbations affect chiral lanthanide complexes.
- To investigate the use of CPL spectroscopy for chiral analysis.
Main Methods:
- Stereochemical analysis of lanthanide complexes.
- Development of optical probes based on circularly polarized light changes.
- Perturbation studies involving changes in complex constitution or non-covalent association.
- Analysis of complexes with enantiopure ligands, including dynamic helicity inversion.
Main Results:
- Established design principles for lanthanide CPL probes.
- Demonstrated that perturbations (constitutional or associative) can alter complex chirality.
- Showcased how enantiopure ligand complexes respond to changes via helicity inversion or coordination environment shifts.
- Validated the use of CPL spectroscopy for probing local chirality.
Conclusions:
- Lanthanide complexes are highly effective for CPL spectroscopy-based chiral detection.
- The study provides a framework for designing novel chiral optical probes.
- Understanding dynamic processes in chiral complexes is vital for sensing applications.
More Related Videos
08:31Luminescence Resonance Energy Transfer to Study Conformational Changes in Membrane Proteins Expressed in Mammalian Cells
Published on: September 16, 2014
09:38Fabrication Procedures and Birefringence Measurements for Designing Magnetically Responsive Lanthanide Ion Chelating Phospholipid Assemblies
Published on: January 3, 2018
Related Concept Videos
Photoluminescence: Applications
Labeling DNA Probes
Radioisotopes, fluorophores, or small molecule binding partners like biotin or digoxigenin, are the most widely used reporter tags for labeling DNA probes. These labels can be attached to the probe DNA molecule via...
Prochirality
Stereoisomerism
Isomers are different chemical species that have the same chemical formula.
Transition metal complexes often exist as geometric isomers, in which the same atoms are connected through the same types of bonds but with differences in their orientation in space. Coordination complexes with two different ligands in the cis and trans positions from a ligand of interest form isomers. For example, the octahedral [Co(NH3)4Cl2]+ ion has two isomers (Figure 1) In the cis...
Properties of Enantiomers and Optical Activity