Photophysical properties of a new ternary europium complex with 2-thenoyltrifluoroacetone and 5-nitro-1,10-phenanthroline

A ligand, 5-nitro-1,10-phenanthroline (phenNO2), was synthesized. Its Eu(III) complex with 2-thenoyltrifluoroacetone (HTTA) was prepared and characterized by elemental analysis, IR and 1H NMR spectra. The photophysical properties of the complex were studied in detail by using UV, luminescence spectra, luminescence lifetime and quantum yield. The complex exhibited nearly monochromatic red emission at 612 nm, a remarkable luminescence quantum yield at room temperature (36.0%) upon ligand excitation and a long 5D0 lifetime (458 μs), which indicated that the ligand phenNO2 could sensitize the luminescence of Eu(III) ion efficiently.