Synthesis, crystal structures, luminescent and magnetic properties of homodinuclear lanthanide complexes with a flexible tripodal carboxylate ligand.

Six new homodinuclear lanthanide(III) complexes with a flexible tripodal carboxylate ligand (H(3)L), of formulae [Ln(2)L(2)(DMF)(4)]·4DMF (Ln = La (1), Nd (2), Eu (3), Gd (4), Tb (5), Dy (6), DMF = N, N-Dimethylformamide) have been synthesized. Among them, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 were characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, which crystallized in the monoclinic space group P2(1)/n with a = 13.309(2) Å, b = 27.404(4) Å, c = 16.686(3) Å, β = 105.115(2) and V = 5875.2(17) Å(3) for 1, a = 13.3016(5) Å, b = 27.1952(12) Å, c = 16.6339(7) Å, β = 105.030(2) and V = 5811.3(4) Å(3) for 2, a = 13.2797(10) Å, b = 27.072(2) Å, c = 16.6564(13) Å, β = 104.9390(10) and V = 5785.7(8) Å(3) for 3, a = 13.2855(3) Å, b = 27.0074(6) Å, c = 16.6357(3) Å, β = 104.9790(10) and V = 5766.2(2) Å(3) for 4, a = 13.2837(5) Å, b = 26.9105(10) Å, c = 16.6066(6) Å, β = 104.917(2) and V = 5736.3(4) Å(3) for 6. The crystal structures reveal that these complexes are isostructural, and molecules are connected from 0D to 3D supramolecular structures by hydrogen bonds. All of them were characterized by elemental analysis, IR spectroscopy, XRD and TGA. Unusually, non-luminescent Tb(III) complex was obtained. The photophysical property of the Eu(III) complex and the magnetic property of Gd(III) complex are investigated and discussed in detail.