Highly luminescent lanthanide complexes sensitised by tertiary amide-linked carbostyril antennae

Carbostyrils are among the most widely used sensitising antennae for luminescent lanthanides; they afford bright complexes with Eu and Tb, and can also sensitise the emissions of the less commonly used Sm, Dy, Yb and Nd. Systematic studies on the effect of structural variations on the photophysical properties and lanthanide sensitising abilities of carbostyrils can therefore have a large impact. We replaced the secondary amide linker that connects the metal binding site to the antenna with a carboxymethyl-substituted tertiary amide. Eight Tb and Eu complexes were prepared. All had higher lanthanide luminescence quantum yields (Φ_Ln) than their secondary amide analogues; three Tb emitters had Φ_Tb > 40%. Eu complexes had Φ_Eu up to 11.6%. The antenna singlet and triplet excited states are slightly shifted, while the metal coordination sphere is unchanged by the introduction of the carboxymethyl group.