Heteroleptic Europium(III) Complexes with Appended Carbazole Units
layer was washed with water and dried with Na2SO4. Solvent was
removed by evaporation, and then the resulting residue was puri-
fied by chromatography (SiO2; dichloromethane/hexane, 2:3) to ob-
tain the product (10.3 g, 52%). M.p. 50–51 °C. 1H NMR
(400 MHz, CDCl3): δ = 1.32–1.45 (m, 4 H, CH2), 1.72–1.87 (m, 4
H, CH2), 3.32 (t, J = 6.67 Hz, 2 H, -CH2Br), 4.46 (t, J = 7.08 Hz,
2 H, -NCH2-), 7.22 (t, J = 7.52 Hz, 2 H, ArH), 7.36 (d, J = 8.23 Hz,
2 H, ArH), 7.45 (t, J = 7.54 Hz, 2 H, ArH), 8.01 (d, J = 7.62 Hz,
2 H, ArH) ppm. C18H20BrN (330.27): calcd. C 65.46, H 6.10, N
4.24; found C 64.92, H 6.13, N 4.31.
Conclusions
We synthesized two multichromophoric europium com-
plexes containing appended carbazole units. These com-
pounds contain three different types of chromophores,
namely phenanthroline (phen), dibenzoylmethane (dbm)
and carbazole itself (carb); an almost selective excitation
(≈90%) was possible only for the latter moiety. The PL
properties of Eu·dbm·carb·phen in solution in comparison
to those of Eu·dbm·phen showed that an efficient popula-
tion of the EuIII emitting states by energy transfer occurs
from the carbazole units. In contrast, the dbm units turned
out to be poor sensitizers for the metal centre, which points
to the importance of the relative position of the ligand low-
est triplet levels relative to the metal-centred accepting state
(5D0). Notably, in both cases, a strong enhancement in the
MC luminescent intensity was detected in solid matrix,
which provides evidence for the limited action of the
vibrational quenchers under these conditions.
Ethyl 6-(9H-Carbazol-9-yl)hexoxybenzoate: A mixture of 9-(4-bro-
mohexyl)-9H-carbazole (3.3 g, 10 mmol), ethyl 4-hydroxybenzo-
ate (1.66 g, 10 mmol), potassium carbonate (1.52 g, 11 mmol) and
NaI (1 g) in anhydrous acetone (60 mL) was stirred vigorously and
heated at reflux for 48 h under the protection of a nitrogen atmo-
sphere. The solvent was removed by evaporation, and the resulting
solid was recrystallized from ethanol to give white needles (2.91 g,
1
70.1%). M.p. 107–108 °C. H NMR (500 MHz, CDCl3): δ = 1.37
(m, 3 H, CH3), 1.85–2.12 (m, 8 H, CH2), 3.98 (m, 2 H, -OCH2),
4.32 (m, 2 H, -NCH2), 4.40 (m, 2 H, -OCH2), 6.84 (d, J = 8.8 Hz,
2 H, ArH), 7.23 (t, J = 7.0 Hz, 2 H, ArH), 7.43 (d, J = 8.1 Hz, 2
H, ArH), 7.47 (t, J = 7.2 Hz, 2 H, ArH), 7.96 (d, J = 8.7 Hz, 2 H,
ArH), 8.10 (d, J = 7.6 Hz, 2 H, ArH) ppm. C27H29NO3 (415.53):
calcd. C 78.04, H 7.04, N 3.37; found C 77.95, H 7.07, N 3.42.
The ability of the carbazole units to act as light-harvest-
ing systems, sensitize and protect the metal emitting states,
together with their intrinsic charge-transporting capability,
make such molecules potentially interesting for the fabrica-
tion of electroluminescent devices.[35,36]
6-(9H-Carbazol-9-yl)hexoxyphenone: A mixture of 9-(4-bromo-
hexyl)-9H-carbazole (3.3 g, 10 mmol), 4-hydroxyacetophenone
(1.36 g, 10 mmol), potassium carbonate (1.52 g, 11 mmol) and NaI
(1 g) in anhydrous acetone (60 mL) was stirred vigorously and
heated at reflux for 48 h under the protection of a nitrogen atmo-
sphere. The solvent was removed by evaporation, and the resulting
solid was recrystallized from ethanol to give white needles (3.18 g,
85.3%). 1H NMR (500 MHz, CDCl3): δ = 1.35 (m, 3 H, CH3),
1.84–2.11 (m, 8 H, CH2), 4.30 (m, 2 H, -NCH2), 4.37 (m, 2 H,
-OCH2), 6.84 (d, J = 8.8 Hz, 2 H, ArH), 7.23 (t, J = 7.0 Hz, 2 H,
ArH), 7.43 (d, J = 8.1 Hz, 2 H, ArH), 7.47 (t, J = 7.2 Hz, 2 H,
ArH), 7.96 (d, J = 8.7 Hz, 2 H, ArH), 8.10 (d, J = 7.6 Hz, 2 H,
ArH) ppm. C26H27NO2 (385.51): calcd. C 81.00, H 7.06, O 8.30,
N 3.63; found C 79.54, H 7.09, O 8.35, N 3.68.
Experimental Section
General Information: Carbazole, 1,6-dibromohexane, K2CO3, ethyl
4-hydroxybenzoate, NaI, NaH, 4-hydroxyacetophenone, dimeth-
oxyethane, EuCl3·6H2O, 1,10-phenanthroline and bathophen-
anthroline were commercially available and used without further
purification. Elemental analysis was carried out with a CE-440 and
Carlo Erba Elemental Analysers.
Spectroscopic Measurements: Absorption spectra were recorded
with a Perkin–Elmer λ9 spectrophotometer. For luminescence ex-
periments, the samples were placed in fluorimetric 1-cm path cu-
vettes and, when necessary, purged from oxygen by bubbling with
argon. Uncorrected emission spectra were obtained with an Edin-
burgh FLS920 spectrometer equipped with a Peltier-cooled Hama-
matsu R928 photomultiplier tube (185–850 nm). Corrected spectra
were obtained by a calibration curve supplied with the instrument.
Luminescence quantum yields (Φem) obtained from spectra on a
wavelength scale (nm) were measured according to the approach
described by Demas and Crosby[37] by using air-equilibrated
[Ru(bpy)3Cl2] in water solution, Φem = 0.028,[38] as standard. The
luminescence lifetimes in the microsecond-millisecond scales were
measured by using a Perkin–Elmer LS-50B spectrofluorometer
equipped with a pulsed xenon lamp with variable repetition rate
and elaborated with standard software fitting procedures (Origin
6.1). To record the 77-K luminescence spectra, the samples were
put in glass tubes (2 mm diameter) and inserted into a special
quartz dewar filled up with liquid nitrogen. Experimental uncer-
tainties are estimated to be Ϯ8% for lifetime determinations,
Ϯ20% for emission quantum yields and Ϯ2 nm and Ϯ5 nm for
absorption and emission peaks, respectively.
1-{[6-(9H-Carbazol-9-yl)hexoxy]phenyl}-3-{[6-(9H-carbazol-9-yl)-
hexoxy]phenyl}propane-1,3-dione (cpcpd): Ethyl 6-(9H-carbazol-
9-yl)hexoxybenzoate (1.68 g, 4.05 mmol), 6-(9H-carbazol-9-yl)-
hexoxyphenone (1.53 g, 4.1 mmol) and NaH (0.12 g, 5 mmol) were
put in a dry flask. Dry dimethoxyethane (30 mL) was added, and
the solution was heated at reflux for 24 h. Then, the solution was
poured into water and acidified to pH ~2 by using HCl solution.
The solid collected was purified by column chromatography (SiO2;
acetone/hexane, 1:8) to obtain a white solid (0.9 g, 29.5%). 1H
NMR (400 MHz, CDCl3): δ = 1.49 (m, 8 H, CH2), 1.77 (m, 4 H,
CH2), 1.93 (m, 4 H, CH2), 3.96 (t, J = 6 Hz, 4 H, CH2), 4.34 (t, J
= 6 Hz, 4 H, CH2), 6.88 (d, J = 8.4 Hz, 4 H, ArH), 7.23 (m, 6 H,
ArH and diketonate CH2), 7.45 (m, 8 H, ArH), 8.04 (d, J = 8 Hz,
4 H, ArH), 8.11 (d, J = 8 Hz, 4 H, ArH) ppm. C51H50N2O4
(754.97): calcd. 81.13, H 6.68, O 8.48, N 3.71; found C 81.01, H
6.71, O 8.39, N 3.75.
Eu(cpcpd)3phen (Eu·dbm·carb·phen): The cpcpd ligand (0.45 g,
0.6 mmol) and 1,10-phenanthroline (0.036 g, 0.2 mmol) were dis-
solved in hot ethanol (15 mL, 60 °C). A solution of NaOH (1 ,
0.6 mL) was added to neutralize the cpcpd ligand. Then,
EuCl3·6H2O (0.073 g, 0.2 mmol) was dissolved in ethanol (2 mL)
and added dropwise to the above solution. The solution was stirred
at 60 °C for 5 h. Then, the solvent was removed under reduced
pressure, and the solid was washed with water several times. After
9-(6-Bromohexyl)-9H-carbazole (Br·carb): A mixture of carbazole
(10.0 g, 0.06 mol), 1,6-dibromohexane (58.6 g, 0.24 mol) and
K2CO3 (25.0 g, 0.18 mol) in dimethylformamide (DMF; 100 mL)
was stirred at room temperature for 24 h before pouring into water.
After extraction with dichloromethane (3ϫ15 mL), the organic
Eur. J. Inorg. Chem. 2008, 2075–2080
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