This dissertation, "Synthesis, Characterization, and Photophysical Studies of Organic-lanthanide Complexes" by Ka-Leung, Wong, 黃嘉良, was obtained from The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong) and is being sold pursuant to Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License. The content of this dissertation has not been altered in any way. We have altered the formatting in order to facilitate the ease of printing and reading of the dissertation. All rights not granted by the above license are retained by the author. Abstract: Abstract of thesis entitled SYNTHESIS, CHARACTERIZATION, AND PHOTOPHYSICAL STUDIES OF ORGANIC- LANTHANIDE COMPLEXES Submitted by Ka-Leung Wong For Degree of Doctor of Philosophy at The University of Hong Kong in August 2006 The general background and coordination chemistry of lanthanides, their characteristic luminescent properties and nonlinear luminescent properties with the applications to material science and biological systems are reviewed. The design and synthesis of lanthanide-organic complexes based on similar tripodal amide ligands N-[2-(bis{2-[(ortho- substituent -benzoyl)amino]ethyl}amino)- ethyl]benzamide (ortho substituent-C H N O ) and bidentate amide ligands di-2- 27 27 4 3 methoxy-(2-aminoethyl)benzamide (C H N O ) were described. These ligands were 20 33 3 8 found to have different coordination to the lanthanide that caused a change in the photo-physical properties. The occurrences of high order multi-photon processes are rare, especially with lanthanide complexes. Generally there is a lack of clear molecular structure in systems that have been reported in the literature, hindering our understanding of the correlation of photo-structural properties. Our complexes have been found to display two different forms of coordination, which significantly affects their photo-properties. X-Ray structure analysis showed that, one being a linear polymeric form and the other a dendritic form, the latter has been found to exhibit an additive harmonic generation process as well as the multi-photon process which is present in both types of coordination. The design and synthesis of a metal-organic network were described based on a lanthanide complex that contains mucic acid, {[Ln(Mucicate) (H O) ].5H O} (Ln 1.5 2 2 2 n = Eu and Tb), exhibiting a novel 1-D hydrophilic channel in the porous framework. The 3D framework with a hydrophilic inner surface was found to exhibit a reversible - - - - anion uptake. Upon addition of an aqueous solution of sodium salts of I, Br, Cl, CN, 2- CO, to a solid sample of the Ln complex, the luminescent intensity enhancements were observed. The anion response of the channels is believed to be due to the effect of numerous OH groups in the mucic acid, which interacts strongly with the anion through hydrogen bonding. Experimental details including instruments used for physical characterization and the photo-physical measurement for linear, multi-photon absorption induced f-f emission and nonlinear emission were presented. DOI: 10.5353/th_b3687535 Subjects: Rare earth metals Organometallic compounds - Synthesis